Monday’s briefing: Eze does it for Arsenal and Rogers shows England class

Eberechi Eze lit up his first north London derby with a superb hat-trick powering Arsenal to a 4-1 win over Tottenham and a six-point advantage at the top of the Premier League.

That came after Morgan Rogers struck twice for Aston Villa in a 2-1 win at Leeds that moves them into the top four and puts the pressure on Daniel Farke with his side slipping into the bottom three.

Sheffield United got the better of Wednesday in a Steel City derby between two struggling Championship sides while Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts lost for the first time this season with their surprise title charge stuttering.

All too Eze for Arsenal

Eze was on the verge of joining Tottenham from Crystal Palace in the summer. On Sunday he showed them just what they missed out on as he became only the third Arsenal player to score a hat-trick against Spurs, and the first since Alan Sunderland in 1978.

Leandro Trossard opened the scoring, turning to fire in from Mikel Merino’s pass, but from then on it was all about Eze, although Richarlison scored a remarkable consolation goal from distance for the visitors.

“When a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen,” Arteta said. “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.”

The result saw the Gunners take full advantage of Saturday’s defeat for Manchester City, with Chelsea now their closest challengers six points back.

Rogers displays England credentials

Thomas Tuchel’s preference for Morgan Rogers ahead of the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer in his England side has caused much debate, but the 23-year-old was the star of the show as in-form Aston Villa came from behind to beat Leeds at Elland Road.

Although Lukas Nmecha scored an early goal for Leeds, Rogers dragged Villa level at the start of the second half before hitting a fine free-kick that made it six wins out of seven for Unai Emery’s side.

“Always, he’s playing well,” Emery said of Rogers. “He’s showing he’s versatile, in a different position. And maybe he showed he’s angry to score.”

There was certainly anger on the Leeds side, with a fan led away by stewards after trying to approach Farke’s technical area at the end of a third straight loss which leaves them in 18th.

Blades cut open poor Wednesday

Rarely has there been a Steel City derby with both sides in such dire straits, but Sunday ended with Sheffield United a point away from escaping the Championship relegation zone after a 3-0 win over a Wednesday side rooted to the foot of the table on minus four points after entering administration.

Tyrese Campbell scored in either half before Tom Cannon finished it off with a fine late strike as Hillsborough rapidly emptied.

It was only a fourth win of the season for United, with Wednesday unable to put up much of a fight, failing to register a shot on target.

United boss Chris Wilder said: “It’s been a tough period, I think for both clubs as well, for different reasons.

“It was on us to win the game of football because of the start that we’ve had and the results that we’ve had. We always knew we were going to have to overcome an honest group of players.”

Losing Hearts

Surprise Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts suffered their first league defeat of the season as they went down 1-0 at Aberdeen, dropping points for a third game out of the last four.

Derek McInnes insisted it was no disaster to lose to Topi Keskinen’s first-half goal, but will be well aware Celtic are only four points behind with a game in hand after a stuttering run.

“That’s always going to happen, you’re always going to lose a game,” McInnes said. “We thought we’d done enough not to lose. I was actually quite encouraged by the performance today without Lawrence (Shankland) and Craig Halkett.”

What’s on today?

Manchester United look to make it five Premier League home victories in a row when they host an Everton side who will move above city rivals Liverpool should they win at Old Trafford.

Elsewhere, attention turns to midweek Champions League action, with Pep Guardiola, Enzo Maresca and Eddie Howe due to give press conferences before Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea welcome Barcelona and Newcastle head to Marseille on Tuesday night.