Arteta: “Eze’s Performance is No Coincidence”

Mikel Arteta believes Eberechi Eze’s match-winning hat-trick in Sunday’s north London derby is a direct result of the work our summer signing has been putting in at the training ground.

Eze’s treble was only the fourth ever in the history of this fixture (three of which have been for Arsenal) and the first since 1978.

Alan Sunderland grabbed three at White Hart Lane in a 5-0 Division One victory in December 1978. The only other hat-trick we’d scored against Spurs was by Ted Drake in October 1934, in a 5-1 home win. 

So this was the first hat-trick in a Premier League north London derby, and the fact that it was scored by a childhood Arsenal fan, who started his career in our youth system, made it all the more magical. 

“Unbelievable,” the boss said afterwards. “I look at the stats and when was the last time that somebody scored a hat-trick in a north London derby? Many, many, many years ago. So that tells you about the difficulty, but it’s not a coincidence. 

“After international duty, he had two days off, and he said, ‘no, I want to train the next day, I want to practice.’ He was asking me questions about his positioning, about his pacing, about this. When a player has that talent, has a brain, and he has that willingness to be better and to make an impact in the team, these things happen.”

Eze’s hat-trick goal was the perfect way to crown an unforgettable derby day in N5, and Mikel said that the tone for the match was set before kick off, by the supporters who were in full voice. The atmosphere was cracked up pre kick-off by a light show and a stunning supporter-led tifo display in the North Bank. 

“I had goosebumps straight away,” the boss said. “I went out there and I said, ‘today feels different, today feels big’. And the players, I prepared them and I said, this is different. For the ones that haven’t been here, that means so much. I mean, we have the great responsibility and as well the pride to make a lot of people happy and proud about this football club. And I think we certainly have done that.”

The manager added that the players had been focussed on the derby – and a big week in general when we will face Bayern Munich and Chelsea as well – as soon as they came back from international duty. 

“I enjoyed every minute of the preparation since the players came back from international duty, I could sense their willingness to be together again and to get some momentum going as well with the big week that we had ahead. And the atmosphere that we created from the first minute, the energy with the crowd and then the performances of the players. I think it’s an outstanding day.”

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