Although I scored the most beautiful hat-trick today but that guy was the best player today and he deserves all the praise”: Arsenal hat-trick hero Eberechi Eze names ONE Arsenal’s teammate as the best player on pitch

Eberechi Eze rubbed salt into Tottenham wounds as he scored a hat-trick in a dominant 4-1 win for Arsenal in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium.

The England international came close to signing for Spurs in the summer before instead joining Arsenal, and his treble helped the Gunners extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points on Sunday.

Leandro Trossard gave Arsenal the lead in the 36th minute as Mikel Arteta’s men broke down Thomas Frank’s three-at-the-back formation, before Eze doubled the advantage a few minutes later. He added another just seconds into the second half, before Richarlison pulled one back with a stunning goal from distance.

Eze put things to bed with his third in the 76th minute on a day that the former Crystal Palace man, and all Arsenal fans, will remember for a long time.

The league leaders were without the injured Gabriel Magalhães, with Piero Hincapié making his first league start for Arsenal. The Colombian didn’t have much to do, though, as the hosts dominated their local rivals.

Spurs arrived in excellent away form, the only team in England’s top four divisions yet to be beaten on the road prior to the game, but they ultimately never looked like taking anything back across north London with them here against a strong home side playing with extreme confidence.

Arsenal had the first chance of the game as Eze lifted a clever ball over the Spurs defence for Declan Rice to volley at goal, though Guglielmo Vicario kept it out, and the subsequent deflection back off Kevin Danso rolled just wide.

Much of the first half hour was tentative and slow, with Arsenal fans unironically booing as Spurs took time over set-pieces, but the deadlock was broken in the 36th minute.

It was created with a sublime pass from Mikel Merino, who was given too much time to pick a straight ball into the well-timed run of Trossard, and the Belgian turned back onto his left foot before guiding his shot just inside the post.

Tottenham’s tactics were only ever likely to work if they could stay level or get ahead, and once they went behind it already felt like game over.

It arguably was when Eze made it 2-0 in the 41st minute, able to find space on the edge of the box – which would be a recurring theme – before riding some weak Spurs challenges and firing past Vicario.

Tottenham failed to register a single shot in the first half. Having done the same in their home loss to Bournemouth in August, it made Spurs the only side in the Premier League this season to attempt zero shots in two separate first halves, the same amount as across their previous 205 matches in the competition combined.

Frank changed to a back four at half-time as he brought Xavi Simons on for Danso, but it didn’t have much of an impact initially. In fact, it took Arsenal just 35 seconds to find a third goal. Eze again received the ball in space on the edge of the box after some determined work from Jurriën Timber, before placing a left-footed shot low to Vicario’s right.

It took until the 55th minute for Spurs to have a shot, but it was arguably worth the wait. Martín Zubimendi dawdled on the ball on the halfway line and was tackled by João Palhinha, with the ball rolling to Richarlison, and the former Everton man lobbed David Raya from distance with an inch-perfect effort to reduce the deficit.

While it felt like a consolation, it did dampen the atmosphere and Spurs visibly gained some confidence from it as they finally had some of the ball in Arsenal territory.

It didn’t do much good, though, with Eze sealing his hat-trick with 14 minutes remaining, once again finding himself in plenty of space on the edge of the box after being set up by Trossard before bending his shot in, this time to Vicario’s left.

It was only the fourth ever hat-trick in competitive meetings between Arsenal and Spurs, after Ted Drake (Arsenal, October 1934), Terry Dyson (Spurs, August 1961) and Alan Sunderland (Arsenal, December 1978).

Eze could and possibly should have had another moments later, once more in a central area, but this time Vicario was equal to his shot.

The ‘ole’s’ rang out as Arsenal passed it around in stoppage time and victory was secured, giving them a six-point lead ahead of Chelsea in second, whom they travel to next weekend.