Before this derby, Arsenal’s North Bank unveiled a tifo — a giant banner depicting heroes from derbies past and present. It featured the likes of Bukayo Saka, Tony Adams, and Thierry Henry, above the battle cry, “These streets are our own”.
Towering above them all was Sol Campbell, whose story exemplifies so much of what this fixture represents: rivalry, loyalty — and betrayal. North London is either red or white. Pick a side.
In August, Eberechi Eze made his choice. And in this 4-1 win for his Arsenal over Tottenham, he delivered a breathtaking hat-trick to etch his own image into derby folklore.
Let it all work out: that was the refrain that accompanied Eze’s arrival at Arsenal. With an agreement finally in place between Tottenham and Crystal Palace, Eze made a fateful phone call to Mikel Arteta, setting in motion a chain of events that saw him reject Spurs in favour of his boyhood club.
Arsenal were always drawn to 27-year-old Eze. They loved his quality, his character and his story. But the decisive factor — the one that persuaded them to pay a fee that could ultimately total £67.5million ($88.5m) to sign him — was his capacity to produce “magic moments”.
A new tifo was unveiled before Sunday’s game (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Against Spurs, Eze produced three — the hat-trick hero in a 4-1 thrashing that takes Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League. So far, it is indeed all working out.
As Eze celebrated his hat-trick goal, Declan Rice raised his hands to his head in disbelief. Even the hardened professionals are struck by the storybook nature of it all. But there’s more to Eze’s day than serendipity.
“Things happen for a reason,” said Arteta. “And after the international duty, he had two days off, and after one day, he wanted to train, and he wanted to improve, and he wanted to do extra practice, and he was asking me questions about this and that.
“And when a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen. And he fully deserves it. I’m so happy for him, because since the day he came, he has brought something else to the team. So it’s a joy, it’s an aura that this team needed, and hopefully it will give him a lot of confidence, to him and the team, that at any moment he can win us a game.
Eze achieved something none of the faces on Arsenal’s pre-game banner can match. He becomes just the fourth male player to score a hat-trick in competitive meetings between Arsenal and Tottenham, following Ted Drake (for Arsenal in October 1934), Terry Dyson (for Spurs in August 1961), and Alan Sunderland (for Arsenal in December 1978).
Eze is only the fourth player to score a hat-trick in a north London derby (Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty Images)
There might have been more. In the game’s opening exchanges, a beautiful clipped pass from Eze ought to have been converted by Rice. Only a stunning save from Vicario prevented Eze from adding his fourth goal of the day.
His willingness to take shots on is key. “It doesn’t have to be perfect,” says Arteta. “It can be right, left, ball on the ground, bouncing ball at this height, and he takes it.
And he has such a quality and capacity to finish actions in different ways that we need to play him very close to the box. The more he spends time there, the better for the team.”
It has been a period of mutual adaptation for Arsenal and Eze. The England international has been adjusting to a new system, a new style, and a new role. This was a day to kickstart his season.
His confidence grew as the game wore on. In stoppage time, Eze produced a beautiful pirouette which had the Arsenal fans on their feet. In a team as brutally efficient as Arteta’s, Eze finds room for artistry.
In his pre-match press conference, Spurs manager Thomas Frank was asked whether he had at one stage believed Eze would be a Tottenham player. “Who’s Eze?” Frank replied, tongue firmly in cheek. Frank may have spoken in jest — he went on to state his admiration for the England international’s quality — but Eze nevertheless delivered an emphatic answer.
It was a complete performance. If there was a concern over Eze’s fit in Arteta’s system, it may have related to his diligence and commitment off the ball — but here he was in the 75th minute, sprinting back from a corner to recover possession.
The impressive Trossard got the scoring underway in Sunday’s game (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Eze will invariably take the plaudits, but the performance of Leandro Trossard should not go unheralded. The Belgian opened the scoring, swivelling to finish after a beautiful through ball from Mikel Merino.
Some eyebrows were raised when Arsenal improved Trossard’s contract in the summer, but Arteta’s faith has been rewarded.
“For me, it was forbidden for him to leave,” said Arteta. “No chance. I know the player that he is, and surrounded by the players that we have, he’s a player who is going to make a difference for us.
“It was one of his best games, so aggressive with and without the ball, so effective, he could have scored another one or two goals, and he was involved in so many positive actions.”
Trossard and Eze have shouldered much of the creative burden for Arsenal in recent weeks. The exciting news is that this game saw Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli return to the matchday squad, with Martin Odegaard expected to follow close behind. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Arsenal’s season is that, on the attacking front at least, they really ought to get better.
On a weekend in which Manchester City lost — and Liverpool’s vulnerabilities were once again made plain — Arsenal capitalised in style.
This was Eze’s derby, and Arsenal’s day. It could well be their season, too.