Frank-ly, It Was All to Eze

It felt like we had to wait a lifetime to see our club back in action again. After an agonising away fixture to Sunderland, we had Tottenham Hotspur stood in our way on our path to redemption. Prior to the international break beginning, we were told that all members of our injury brigade would be back. However, Gabriel managed to sustain an injury and we got vague updates on any personnel back for the Spurs match. At one point it seemed like none were coming back, but thankfully we saw Noni Madueke back in the squad, alongside Gabriel Martinelli. That little boost was welcome, but the team that started the match was the same as what we saw against Sunderland, minus our best defender this season. The North London derby, what did Arsenal have in store for us?

Arsenal began the game in their usual manner, complete domination. Arsenal held the ball for long periods of the opening exchanges and managed to squeeze a couple of chances in. Declan Rice went close after receiving a lovely dinked pass from Eberechi Eze. His shot smacked against the legs of Guglielmo Vicario, but almost ricocheted off Kevin Danso and into the goal, but just past the post instead. Jurrien Timber almost benefitted from the resulting corner, but couldn't angle his header down. As the half wore on, Arsenal maintained control and were probing the Spurs defence. Bukayo Saka earned a couple of dangerous free kicks, but saw one sail over the bar and the other forced Vicario into a big save. Arsenal were knocking on the door and it soon opened. Mikel Merino found a pocket of space on the edge of the box and noticed the run of Leandro Trossard, who was darting behind the Spurs defence. Merino knocked it perfectly into his path, but the Belgian's touch actually put him into an awkward situation. However, he quickly spun his body around and flung his foot at the ball. Mickey Van de Ven attempted to thwart the danger, but inadvertently deflected it beyond Vicario. 1-0 Arsenal. 2-0 arrived moments later as Eze found some room on the edge of the Spurs box. He dinked his way inside and rifled a shot straight past Vicario. Once again, Van de Ven helped the ball on its way. Arsenal were beginning to open up the North London rivals and they knew it.

The 2nd half arrived and the fans barely had time to get back to their seats before Eze added a third. The ball fell kindly to Eze in the box and, within a couple of touches, it was out of his feet and curled into the bottom corner. Arsenal were on cloud nine, but Spurs still hadn't ventured out of their half. However, by some fluke/miracle or extraordinary piece of skill, Spurs pulled one back. Martin Zubimendi was punished for dithering on the ball by Joao Palhinha. Richarlison picked up the pieces from the challenge and noticed David Raya off his line, within a couple of touches the ball was in the back of the net. A 35/40 yard screamer that gave Spurs a little bit of confidence. They started to string some passing moves together and even had an attempt on target, but nothing more than that. Arsenal still dominated the shooting statistics. Eze was certainly feeling confident and gave Vicario more to worry about, Saka also forced an excellent save from him as well. Timber somehow missed an attempt from inside the six yard box. But, Eze took matters into his own hands again and delivered the final nail in the coffin. My personal favourite. Trossard received the ball and had a couple of options in Saka and Eze, but opted for the latter. Eze took the ball inside the box and curled another effort beyond the reach of Vicario. 4-1 and it still didn't seem like enough for the Gunners. Our hat-trick hero decided he wanted to try and get a fourth for himself, but this time Vicario got his hands behind the ball and prevented further embarassment. Arsenal remained on the front foot, but couldn't really carve out anything more.

The Gunners were totally dominant and the statistics support that. Arsenal had 17 attempts, 8 of which were on target and this generated an xG of 1.93. They also created 3 big chances within that. For Spurs it's almost not even worth mentioning it. They had 3 shots, 2 on target and generated a club record in terms of how low their xG was. It sat at 0.07. Unsurprisingly, no big chances created.

Player Ratings -

Raya - 6 - I'm going to be harsh with this one because he literally had nothing to do other than make a save from a Xavi Simons' strike. I don't think the Richarlison goal was his fault, but clearly his positioning gave the Spurs striker hope.

Timber - 8 - Another dynamic performance and actually played a part in most of the goals with his tenacity. He did actually grab an assist and played a part in Eze's first goal too. A dominant performance once again.

Saliba - 8 - Didn't have a whole lot to do, but had a bit of a tussle with Richarlison to keep himself busy. He was strong in the air, press resistant and anticipated danger very well. There was a number of times I saw him galloping across the pitch to beat a Spurs player to a loose ball.

Hincapie - 9 - His first Premier League start and what way to start. He was clearly the more aggressive centre back between him and Saliba. He pressed Spurs higher up and made sure they lost possession in their own half rather than being given a chance to build something. Replacing Gabriel is extremely hard, but from what I saw, we won't miss our Brazilian all that much.

Calafiori - 7 - Our Italian had a very good game, but just wasn't quite as involved as Timber, hence the lower rating. He was strong in his defensive work and tried his best going forward, but it just didn't quite work out for him. Still, a commanding performance.

Zubimendi - 8 - A lot of his post match analysis will be the moment he lost the ball to Palhinha and Richarlison scored from the scraps. Yes, he should've just released the ball sooner, but it was just a perfect strike from distance that caught everyone out. What people will forget is that the reason we're so dominant is because of him. He is everywhere. He patrols that mid section of the pitch like it's his own home. He was on hand to thwart most of what Spurs could come up with, but kept us ticking over in possession.

Rice - 8 - Our midfield engine once again and was able to chip in with an assist. He was constantly on hand to halt any progression that Spurs could've made, a real masterful midfield performance.

Eze - 10 (MOTM) - I'm not one to hand out the 10 rating often, but Eze deserves it more than any performance I've seen this season. Not just the fact he scored a hat-trick against our biggest rivals, but his work overall was incredible. He was a huge threat going forward and constantly found little pockets of space in and around the Spurs box. What I loved even more was his willingness to track back and help defend. 4-1 up and he was still doing what the team needed him to do and that's commendable. A perfect night for him and it really did all work out.

Saka - 9 - Our creative pulse without the goals or assists to show for it. When the ball arrives at his feet the opposition panic. It doesn't always work out for him, but they know as soon as he can get himself into a position then he'll be very dangerous. He was unlucky not to score and certainly unlucky not to grab an assist.

Merino - 8 - I criticise our Spaniard a fair amount, but when he's good then I'll of course talk about it. I was underwhelmed in the opening half hour as he just seemed to keep drifting out wide and almost becoming an auxiliary wide man. However, when he drifted into central areas then he gave a proper centre forward performance. He consistently challenged Romero and Van de Ven in the air which gave Arsenal an oppotunity to seize on the second ball. He also grabbed a sweet assist to open the scoring.

Trossard - 9 - I don't think he was as dangerous as Saka, but he did score so maybe he was. He scored the all important opening goal and constantly hassled Djed Spence and Danso. He knew neither of them were communicating about marking him, so he continuously asked for the ball over the top. It's how his goal came to fruition

Substitutes -

Madueke - 7 - It's great to see Noni back and earning some minutes. He looked rusty, but that's certainly expected. However, he made some good runs and was able to stretch the Spurs defence on a few occasions.

Nwaneri - N/A -

Mosquera - N/A -

Lewis-Skelly - N/A -

Overall it was a brilliant performance and one which was under immense pressure prior to the game. Manchester City are breathing down our necks, but after losing to Newcastle United, this presented a golden opportunity to extend our lead at the top. Chelsea are still in the mix and are the closest to us, but the win over Spurs ensured that even the gap to them is six points. We face Chelsea next weekend which is shaping up to be a real thriller. Before that though, we have the small challenge of Bayern Munich in the Champions League. So, here's how I'd line up.

As much as this game isn't a MUST win, Mikel Arteta will want to win this one. This would likely take us top of the Champions League standings and maintain a 100% record. It's also gives us some extra breathing room for our remaining games. This line up is with the assumption that Victor Gyokeres, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz will miss out. However, there's no guarantee that they will. Regardless, it'll be a strong line up with only a couple of changes to the weekend. Trossard needs a breather and Arteta has Madueke and Martinelli at his disposal. Madueke seems more ready than the Brazilian. Mosquera will likely come in for Hincapie to keep rotation fresh. It's a game we can absolutely win, if we believe in ourselves.

See you then!