Egbochie Alexander 
Arsenal attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze made a bold statement with his hat-trick against Tottenham, and after that performance, things will never be the same for him.
We’ve long known Eze is a player of exceptional talent from his time at Crystal Palace, and he has already shown flashes of brilliance since joining Arsenal. But the true measure of a player at a club of Arsenal’s stature is how they perform in the big games.
Sunday’s 4-1 north London derby provided the perfect stage for him to deliver his best display in a Gunners shirt.
Being an Arsenal fan himself made the occasion even more special. Eze became the first player to score a hat-trick in this fixture since 1978, and he made it look effortless. As I mentioned on Match of the Day, watching him play was a joy. He has an extraordinary ability to make the game seem easy.
Every aspect of his game shone through: his finishing was clinical, his movement intelligent, and his skill and ability to find space exceptional.
Comfortable on both feet, he moves the ball with elegance and fluidity. Brought in to break down deep-lying defences like Spurs’, Eze demonstrated every element of his arsenal.
After a performance of this magnitude, he’ll likely be walking on air for days. But more importantly, doing it in such a crucial fixture has shifted the trajectory of his Arsenal career — from now on, things are bound to be very different for him.
‘Eze Will Feel Like He Can Try Anything’
I know from experience that some games stay with you forever — the ones where, if you make the difference, the fans never forget it.
I’d been a Liverpool player for over three years when I scored my first winner against Manchester United in 2000. I was used to autographs and chatter, but that goal against our fiercest rivals instantly changed everything.
Suddenly, I was the player who had delivered that moment. People looked at me differently, and certainly thought more highly of me, because I had given them joy in a fixture that meant so much.
It will be the same for Eze. The immediate impact of his hat-trick is confidence — he will walk onto the pitch in the next few games feeling unstoppable, like he can try anything and nothing can go wrong.
Whether it’s Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday or Chelsea in the Premier League next weekend, he’ll sense the fans are fully behind him. They adore him now more than ever.
That feeling translates directly onto the pitch. When you know the fans are with you, it changes how you play. You think, “Give me the ball — let me show what I can do next.” It’s an incredible buzz, and Eze will want to express himself and showcase his talent to the world.
This feeling comes with any hat-trick in a game of this magnitude, but it carries extra weight when you’re a fan of the team yourself. The warmth from supporters in that moment is something rare, something you can only truly understand if you’ve grown up with it.
I’d been at Old Trafford as a Liverpool fan watching them play, so I knew what beating United meant to our supporters. Eze will understand exactly what beating Spurs means to Arsenal fans.
What he did on Sunday will stay with him forever — and the supporters will know he truly gets it too.
So he is going to have an incredible few weeks. The only slight danger when something like this happens is you get carried away and start to think you really are amazing and things will just happen for you in games – it doesn’t work like that!
But Eze is such a humble guy, he would never think like that anyway. His work ethic shows you what his attitude is like, and against Spurs, he was still chasing players back into his own half from a corner even after he had scored his hat-trick.
There are some players who I watch now and really want to do well, whoever they play for, because they are such likeable characters – and Eze is one of those.
He has done things the hard way to become an Arsenal and England player at the age of 27, and his story, having been released by Arsenal’s academy aged 13, makes it even more incredible.
Eze is the type of player Arteta can rely on. He’s creative, he’s confident, and he’s a game-changer. I called him a “wow footballer” on Match of the Day because he excites me so much, and I am looking forward to what comes next for him too.
The only dilemma for Arsenal is that they have got Martin Odegaard and Eze, who can both play as wonderful number 10s.
Who does Arteta pick? It’s a great problem to have.
Competition Has Enhanced Performances
If things had gone differently in the summer, Eze could have been lining up against Arsenal on Sunday rather than playing for them.
It probably makes the defeat even more painful for the Spurs that a player they tried to sign ended up scoring a hat-trick against them.
But Eze’s achievement was just the icing on the cake for Arteta’s side, because there were outstanding performances right through their team.
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Mikel Merino was playing out of position again at centre-forward, but caused Spurs so many problems. Jurrien Timber’s performance at right-back was as good as I’ve seen from anyone in that position for a long time – he is in the conversation with the likes of Achraf Hakimi now as being among the best in the world.
We’ve already seen Cristhian Mosquera come in for William Saliba and fill in without any problems, and now we’ve seen Piero Hincapie come in for Gabriel and look dominant, too.
When Arsenal signed Mosquera and Hincapie in the summer, we talked about how they had added to their depth on paper, but we are seeing the strength of their squad on the pitch now, too. It has created a competition for places that has enhanced everyone’s performances.
‘Ominous For Everyone Else’
Arteta must be thrilled with the level his players are reaching, not just in terms of technical ability, but also their physicality, intensity, and work rate.
Every player is willing to give their all because they know if they don’t, they won’t play — and Arteta deserves full credit for instilling that mindset. He has fostered a culture where hard work is as vital as attacking flair, if not more so.
No one carries the team. Even up front, Viktor Gyokeres — who missed the Spurs game through injury — has exemplified their pressing mentality. Whoever plays, the defensive effort is consistent. That requires not just mental discipline but also peak physical readiness, and the team has both in abundance.
Every aspect of their game is firing, and their confidence is evident in how they approach every situation. One of the most impressive things is that even on days when they aren’t at their best with the ball, it rarely affects their defensive intensity or overall effort.
They play like a cohesive powerhouse, a unit utterly focused on winning and determined to move past years of finishing second in the Premier League.
At their current level, they are a daunting prospect for any opposition — it’s hard to see who can realistically challenge them.
