Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham: Eberechi Eze’s ‘special day’ – but can anyone challenge Gunners for title?

It has been another huge weekend for Arsenal.

A fortnight after the Gunners’ surprise draw at Sunderland gave their Premier League title rivals new hope, Sunday’s resounding win over Tottenham has put them firmly back in the hot seat.

Eberechi Eze, a Spurs summer target, was the hero, scoring his first hat-trick in senior football and the first in a north London derby since 1978 as Arsenal thrashed Tottenham 4-1 in an ominous display for the rest of the Premier League.

A day after defending champions Liverpool lost a sixth of their past seven matches and closest rivals Manchester City were beaten at Newcastle, Mikel Arteta’s men had no such problems to move six points clear of second-placed Chelsea.

And this felt like a statement win against their bitter rivals – who went into the game unbeaten away from home all season – especially going into the game with Gabriel, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokores on the injury list.

Taking away Richarlison’s unbelievable chip from distance to earn the visitors a consolation goal, there was only ever one winner in as one-sided a north London derby as you can get.

Arsenal had 17 shots compared to Tottenham’s three, with the visitors ending with an expected goals (xG) of just 0.07.

«That is crazy. Special day, man. Special day for me, my family,» Eze told BBC Match of the Day.

«I don’t think I could have ever dreamt of it. This is more special than that. I can only thank God.

«We were prepared for whatever set-up they were coming with because of the diligence of our staff. Huge credit to them, and of course the players in our team – the ability, the talent. From whatever angle, we’re threatening to score goals.

«I probably should have scored four. I’m always trying to score, always trying to take my chances. It’s important to be relentless.»

What a day it turned out to be for boyhood Arsenal fan Eze.

Before the match Tottenham manager Thomas Frank joked «who?» when questioned about how close Eze was to becoming a Spurs player in the summer. Those words certainly came back to haunt him.

A first senior hat-trick is a big landmark in itself, let alone a first treble in Premier League north London derby history.

Eze signed for Arsenal in a deal worth £67m and is starting to cement himself as one of the first names on the teamsheet for manager Mikel Arteta.

When he signed for the Gunners there were questions about where he would fit into the side but, after an injury to captain Odegaard, Eze has taken his opportunity with both hands.

The 27-year-old has taken time to settle as he got used to a different role in this Arsenal team than the one he was used to at Crystal Palace, but he has already started to deliver big moments.

He provided an excellent pass for Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time equaliser against City, scored the winner against Palace and now has a first senior hat-trick against rivals Tottenham.

Eze provides something different to the rest of the Arsenal forwards and his unpredictability adds another edge to Arsenal’s forward line.

The Gunners have another two big games coming up, with matches against Bayern Munich and Chelsea, but Eze will relish the challenge given the form he is now in.

«That’s him. He had two days off after the England camp and after day one he wanted to train,» Arteta said.

«He wanted to come back and improve and ask questions. When you have such a talent and such an intelligence and then you add that willingness to be better and practise, these things happen.

«When I spoke to Thomas Tuchel (about him) I said how good is he? He said to me one of the best I have seen. I rate him one of the best in terms of talent. If we add in now his work rate, willingness to play for this team and the joy I sense when he is the building we have a special player there.»

No English player has been involved in more goals that Eze in 2025 in the Premier League. Only Erling Haaland (25), Mohamed Salah (23), Bryan Mbeumo (21) and Antoine Semenyo (18) been involved in more Premier League goals than the Arsenal number 10 (18 – 10 goals, eight assists).

«I know how much this move from Crystal Palace meant to him and what a performance from him. Best player on the pitch,» former Crystal Palace forward Clinton Morrison told BBC Radio 5 Live.

«This is where his Arsenal career takes off.»

Yes, there are still 26 games left to play for each team this season, we hear you say.

So a six-point lead at this point is surely far from unsurmountable? Correct, but the stats suggest Arsenal’s lead is fairly significant.

This is the fifth time Arsenal have been top of the Premier League after 12 matches but – look away now, Arsenal fans – they have failed to go on and win the title the past three times they have led the way at this stage.

However, this is the biggest lead they have had at this stage of a Premier League campaign.

And it gets even better, Gunners fans. No team has failed to win the title with a lead of six points or more after 12 games of a Premier League season.

That stat is a bit misleading, though, as teams have come from further back to win the title.

So the more pertinent question is how many times have teams been six or more points behind the leaders after 12 games and still been crowned champions?

It still looks pretty healthy for Arsenal, with the answer being just five times – the most recent being in 2013-14 when City were six points behind leaders Arsenal.

Chelsea have to be considered title challengers now they are sitting in second spot.

They have won five of their past six league games, winning three successive league matches without conceding for the first time since 2022.

Aston Villa and Palace, two and three points behind Chelsea respectively, will also consider themselves challengers.

With Liverpool now 11 points behind Arsenal, Arne Slot’s men would have to do something no team has done in Premier League history to come back and win the title.

Only two teams have come back from City’s current seven-point deficit to win the league.

Arsenal fans would have been worried going into the north London derby without arguably their best centre-back, Gabriel.

The Brazilian had been an ever-present in Arsenal’s incredibly strong defensive start to the season, leading the way in aerial duals and clearances and making the joint second highest number of blocks in the league.

Last season Arsenal won only four of their 12 league matches when Gabriel and William Saliba did not start together.

But this appears to be a different Arsenal after a summer when they spent £250m and brought in eight players as they aimed to increase their squad depth with quality players.

One of those who played on Sunday was Piero Hincapie, who came in for Gabriel.

The defender has joined on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, with a £52m option to make the deal permanent, and is a favourite of Arteta, who called him a «warrior».

Hincapie is a Bundesliga winner and can also play at left-back, giving Arteta options while ensuring there is not a drop-off in quality if Saliba or Gabriel are unavailable.