It was an unguarded comment from an Arsenal official and it came shortly after Eberechi Eze’s mural outside the Emirates Stadium had been defaced with white paint – presumably by a Tottenham fan. It summed up the snark between the clubs and Arsenal’s delight at pipping their rivals to Eze’s signature from Crystal Palace at the end of August. “We sign a top-class forward for £60m. They throw paint at walls.”
Eze’s mural has since been redone; it now has a caption to reinforce the storyline about the boyhood Arsenal fan coming back to his club after being released as a youngster. “All roads lead home.” So it did not need a joke from Thomas Frank on Friday to set up Eze vs Spurs. “Who’s Eze?” the Spurs manager had said; a classic of the fate-tempting genre.
It felt as though Eze was always going to have a say in this derby. It turned out that he shouted to every corner of the stadium. The attacking midfielder was in the mood from the first whistle and he conjured a quite sensational hat-trick to ensure that Arsenal made the most of Manchester City’s defeat at Newcastle on Saturday to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points. In the heat of the moment, it seemed as if all roads led to the title.
Eze’s first followed a Leandro Trossard goal and it was a moment to showcase his twinkle-toed brilliance. There did not seem to be any space on the fringes of the Spurs area when he picked up a half clearance but he found it, tricking this way and that before thrashing home. The second and third were similar, Eze accepting passes in dangerous areas and picking out each corner with easy, never-in-doubt curlers and it added up to an ordeal for Frank and Spurs.
Richarlison scored a wonder-goal for 3-1, flighted home from 45 yards with the Arsenal goalkeeper, David Raya, off his line but otherwise there was only gloom for Spurs. It was the first serious setback for Frank on the road in the league but hardly the only one more generally – coming on the back of the home defeat to Chelsea and the underwhelming draw against Manchester United, also at home. Spurs’s xG against Chelsea was 0.05. Here it was 0.07.
Frank’s switch to a back three at the start was an important detail and it seemed to reflect an acceptance of Spurs’s role – that of big underdog. It was a total disaster. The travelling fans who departed long before full time would surely have preferred their team to have a go if they were going to go down.
The scene had been lit by a giant Arsenal tifo behind one of the goals that featured images of various club legends. The most prominent at the top of it? Sol Campbell, of course. The atmosphere pulsed.
Frank had João Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in front of his defence, which had the wing-backs deep when Arsenal had possession. That was a lot of the time. It looked like a defensive seven. Spurs offered zero in attacking terms before the interval – no touches inside the opposing area – and the only question concerned whether Arsenal could find a way through. They could.
It was a slow-burn half, Eze creating something for Declan Rice at the very start and after that it was like watching a kind of extended headlock until Trossard broke free. Eze’s scooped pass over the Spurs backline was a moment of magic and a sign of what was to come. Rice banged his volley straight at Guglielmo Vicario, who saved.
Arteta wanted to spring a runner in behind and the plan came together in the 36th minute shortly after Vicario had done well to claw away a Bukayo Saka free-kick. Mikel Merino, playing in the No 9 role, came short and it was a lovely through-ball for Trossard, who had darted away from Kevin Danso. Trossard was allowed to spin in a full circle before he shot, the ball helped in by Micky van de Ven’s desperate challenge. Destiny Udogie had played Trossard onside.
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Spurs were desperate and Van de Ven raged after Eze made it 2-0, gesticulating furiously at some of his teammates further up the pitch. He appeared to target Richarlison. Frank’s Plan A, which was little more than to dig in for a 0-0, was in shreds and so he switched to 4-3-3 at half-time, introducing Xavi Simons for Danso.
Arsenal were further in front just 38 seconds after the restart, Eze’s finish was another beauty and although he tried to put his hand over his mouth to hide the beaming smile, he did not really succeed. This is what fulfilled dreams look like.
Richarlison’s effort was the definition of a bolt from the blue. It came after Cristian Romero had made a saving header to prevent Eze from sniffing out another goal and it was a celebration of Richarlison’s vision and technique, totally at odds with the overall sweep of the Spurs performance. Palhinha stretched out a leg to rob Martín Zubimendi and Richarlison’s lob was picture perfect.
There was never the remotest hint of a comeback. Arsenal simply set about scoring again. Rice almost made something happen with a whipped set-piece delivery and Eze might have got yet another one after his hat-trick, Vicario denying him with a smart save. Spurs had suffered enough.
