{"id":1841,"date":"2025-11-24T13:28:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T05:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1841"},"modified":"2025-11-24T13:28:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T05:28:49","slug":"exceptional-eze-deserved-spotlight-in-arsenal-rout-of-spurs-arteta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/24\/exceptional-eze-deserved-spotlight-in-arsenal-rout-of-spurs-arteta\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Exceptional’ Eze deserved spotlight in Arsenal rout of Spurs: Arteta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mikel Arteta said Eberechi Eze’s brilliant hat-trick in Arsenal’s 4-1 demolition of Tottenham on Sunday was just reward for the midfielder’s “exceptional” commitment to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eze <\/strong>became only the fourth player to<\/strong> score <\/strong>a north London derby treble and the first to hit three <\/strong>in the bitter rivalry since Alan Sunderland<\/strong> in 1978. The 27-year-old midfielder tore Tottenham <\/strong>to shreds with clinical finishes<\/strong> in the 41st, 46th and 76th minutes at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leandro Trossard<\/strong> netted in the 36th minute to open the floodgates <\/strong>before Eze stole the show with the first treble of his professional career<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richarlison’s incredible 35-yard chip<\/strong> over Gunners keeper David Raya<\/strong> in the 55th minute was no consolation for toothless Tottenham<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Eze <\/strong>had made a relatively slow start<\/strong> to his Arsenal career since his \u00a360 million <\/strong>($78 million) move <\/strong>from Crystal Palace<\/strong> in August, Arteta <\/strong>has been impressed <\/strong>with the England star’s dedication. That desire to improve was on show when he reported back early from the recent international break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m so happy for him<\/strong>. It is a day he deserves. At any minute, he can win us a game<\/strong>,” Arteta <\/strong>said. “Things happen for a reason<\/strong>. After the international duty, he had two days off, but after one day, he went to training. Because he wants to improve<\/strong>. He was asking me questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He can score from the right<\/strong>, the left<\/strong>, in the ground, with the ball bouncing, he has such a capacity to take these chances. He is exceptional<\/strong>. We need to play to his qualities<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eze <\/strong>had snubbed Tottenham’s interest<\/strong> in favour of joining Arsenal <\/strong>and his eye-catching performance underlined <\/strong>just what their rivals missed out on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I picked up the phone to him in the summer, I remember he said he wanted to play for us <\/strong>and be part of this team. You can really sense <\/strong>that. Hopefully, he enjoys this day,” Arteta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a memorable afternoon<\/strong> for Arsenal<\/a>, whose biggest win over Tottenham <\/strong>since 2012 extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Super dominant Arsenal<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“A great day<\/strong>. We enjoyed every minute of it. Since the players came back from international duty, I sensed they were ready for a big week. Their preparation was top-notch<\/strong>,” Arteta <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is the application<\/strong>, the energy <\/strong>and the desire to win<\/strong>. It is without question the biggest attribute for this team. We were exceptional from minute one<\/strong>. We were super dominant. A day to remember. You don’t always win a derby 4-1<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With champions Liverpool <\/strong>in turmoil and Manchester City <\/strong>also spluttering <\/strong>after Saturday’s loss at Newcastle, Arteta’s side are in pole<\/strong> position <\/strong>in the title race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three successive runners-up finishes<\/strong> in the Premier League, this season is a golden opportunity<\/strong> to finally end their wait for a first title since 2004<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although <\/strong>Arsenal <\/strong>are unbeaten <\/strong>in 15 matches in all competitions, Arteta <\/strong>refused to get carried away ahead of a big week featuring a Champions League visit from Bayern Munich<\/strong> and a trip to second-placed Chelsea <\/strong>in the Premier League next weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked how much confidence<\/strong> he took from the manner of Arsenal’s victory, Arteta said: “In this league? Not much<\/strong>. It means we are doing well and winning games.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank<\/strong> was forced to apologise<\/strong> after his first taste of the north London derby raised fresh questions<\/strong> about his cautious tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Where do I start? It was hugely disappointing<\/strong> that we didn’t perform better against our biggest rival. I can only apologise to the fans for that<\/strong>,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank <\/strong>had already been criticised <\/strong>for his pragmatic game plans and Tottenham’s latest tepid display forced him to defend his philosophy. “Very emotional<\/strong> and frustrated <\/strong>right now. I take full responsibility<\/strong>. But what I will say is we needed to be more aggressive, no matter the system,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m a big believer that no matter what system you play<\/strong>, you can be successful. We didn’t win enough<\/strong> of those duels, whether that was a lack of fight or whatever it is.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta said Eberechi Eze’s brilliant hat-tr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1843,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions\/1843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}