Sports
Eze savours ‘special day’ as hat-trick helps Arsenal take North London bragging rights
Eberechi Eze savoured a “special day” after his first North London derby appearance saw him score a hat-trick in a resounding 4-1 win.
Eze stepped up in the absence of striker Viktor Gyokeres with a brilliant derby display at the Emirates as he found the net with three delightful finishes after Leandro Trossard opened the scoring.
Speaking to Match of the Day, the summer signing said: “That is crazy. Special day man. Special day for me, my family.
“I don’t think I could’ve ever dreamt of it. This is more special than that. I can only thank God. Special day, man.
“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.
“Good performance, good three points and a special day.
“I probably should’ve scored four to be honest. I’m always trying to score, always trying to take my chances. It’s important to be relentless.
“We’re focused on ourselves, we’re focused on putting in our work every day. It’s not by chance that we perform like this.”
Frank: Painful defeat for Spurs
Spurs, on the other hand, were second-best throughout the game as they suffered their heaviest defeat to the Gunners since 2012 and manager Thomas Frank admitted it was a “painful” afternoon.
The Danish manager said: “Very difficult afternoon. Bad performance. It’s extremely painful to stand here after that game. We can only apologise to the fans for not performing better.
“I was very confident we could be competitive today. We weren’t. That we need to look at with a cool and calm head and work out what we need to change.
“We didn’t succeed to be aggressive enough and we didn’t win the duels.
“One thing for sure is that in hindsight everything is much easier. I take always the full responsibility for the performances. That I need to look back to.
“We changed things at half-time, it was a tiny bit better, but the game was already over at 3-0. It doesn’t matter what system we play if we don’t win our duals.
“No matter how painful it is, and of course this is the most painful defeat of the season, there are things we can take out of this game.”
