Eberechi Eze asked for extra training before destroying Tottenham in derby

Mikel Arteta revealed Eberechi Eze was determined to make his mark in his first north London derby after his sparkling hat-trick sunk Tottenham 4-1.

Eze, who was on the verge of joining Spurs from Crystal Palace this summer until Arsenal hijacked the £67.5million move at the 11th hour, twisted the knife with a stunning treble.

He became only the third Arsenal player, after Ted Drake in 1934 and Alan Sunderland in 1978, to score three times against their fierce rivals.

“Things happen for a reason,” said Gunners boss Arteta. “After international duty, he had two days off, and after one day he wanted to train.

“He wanted to improve, and he wanted to do extra practice and he was asking me questions about this and that.

“When a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen. And he fully deserves it.

“I’m so happy for him, because since the day that he came, he brought something else to the team.

“So it’s a joy, it’s an aura that this team needed and hopefully it will give him a lot of confidence, to him and the team, that at any moment he can win us a game.”

It was an extra significant result for the Gunners, who are now six points clear at the top of the Premier League.

“What does that mean? In this league, not much,” added Arteta. “We are doing really well. We’ve been really consistent and that’s it.”

Tottenham arrived at the Emirates armed with no attacking ambition whatsoever, so the onus was firmly on Arsenal to find a way through.

They broke the deadlock after 36 minutes when Mikel Merino lifted the ball into the area.

Leandro Trossard swivelled and fired towards goal with Micky van de Ven’s last-ditch challenge sending the ball into the far corner.

Five minutes later a Spurs half-clearance fell to Declan Rice, who pushed it first-time to Eze.

The Arsenal number 10 conjured up a tremendous piece of skill to wriggle out of a tight area and fire past Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs boss Thomas Frank sent on forward Xavi Simons for defender Kevin Danso in a bid to offer some sort of threat on goal.

But the second half was not even 40 seconds old when Eze collected Jurrien Timber’s pass on the edge of the box and slotted it inside the far post.

Spurs did pull one back with their first shot of the match, an unlikely 40-yarder from Richarlison catching out Gunners keeper David Raya.

But Eze completed his derby debut treble when he gathered Trossard’s square pass and curled another unstoppable shot into the net.

It was a chastening way for Tottenham to lose their unbeaten away record this season, despite Frank picking a notably defensive starting line-up.

“Where do you want me to start,” Frank shrugged afterwards. “I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play, you can be successful. So the full responsibility will always be on me.

“Today, when we had the ball I picked a team that played 5-4-1. I changed it at half-time, and they scored. Very, very clever. And then the rest is history.”