It was an unguarded comment from an Arsenal official and it came shortly after Eberechi Eze’s mural outside the Emirates Stadium had been defaced with white paint – presumably by a Tottenham fan. It summed up the snark between the clubs and Arsenal’s delight at pipping their rivals to Eze’s signature from Crystal Palace at the end of August. “We sign a top-class forward for £60m. They throw paint at walls.”
Eze’s mural has since been redone; it now has a caption to reinforce the storyline about the boyhood Arsenal fan coming back to his club after being released as a youngster. “All roads lead home.” So it did not need a joke from Thomas Frank on Friday to set up Eze vs Spurs. “Who’s Eze?” the Spurs manager had said; a classic of the fate-tempting genre.
It felt as though Eze was always going to have a say in this derby. It turned out that he shouted to every corner of the stadium. The attacking midfielder was in the mood from the first whistle and he conjured a quite sensational hat-trick to ensure that Arsenal made the most of Manchester City’s defeat at Newcastle on Saturday to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points. In the heat of the moment, it seemed as if all roads led to the title.
