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.