Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze goes from fan to superstar with derby magic: Moment of the Week

DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by ESPN India, click this post.

Anirudh Menon

Nov 24, 2025, 04:47 PMOpen Extended Reactions

Three months ago, Ian Wright appeared on an Arsenal video asking what he called “rhetorical” questions: “Do you want to create? Do you want to excite? Do you want to raise levels? Raise hairs? Raise the roof? Do you want to write a legacy? Do you want to realise those dreams? Do you want The Arsenal?”

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

Eberechi Eze walked into the frame, wearing Arsenal 10, turned to face the camera, smiled and said, “obviously.”

Last Sunday, on North London Derby debut, Eze scored a fantastic hat trick to lead Arsenal to a thumping 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

“Obviously.”

When that video was released, it had been an announcement that excited the Arsenal fans most in recent times, for not only was Eze one of the most exciting players in the Premier League, he was also a boyhood Arsenal fan. One of their own. And on derby debut he wrote his name into their history books.

Eze became just the fourth player to score a hat trick in the derby, and the first to score one since Alan Sunderland in December 1978. The numbers are remarkable, whichever way you look at it, but just look at the goals themselves and you’ll see each were worthy of a derby win by themselves.

The first came five minutes after Leandro Trossard’s opener and it was arguably the pick of the bunch. Declan Rice poked a hopeful Jurrien Timber cross into Eze’s feet, who collected it on the edge of the Spurs box… and then the magic began. A touch to trap it and as Rodrigo Bentancur and Palhinha closed in at speed, he took two more to squeeze the ball and himself in between them. Accelerating into space that opened up suddenly, he cocked his right leg and let fly between the closing Danso and Micky van de Ven, giving Guglielmo Vicario little chance, even if the shot was close to him and the big keeper got his fingertips to it.

The second was stunning in its timing, coming 36 seconds after kickoff in the second half, and because of that Eze would say it was his favourite of the lot. Timber played him in, Eze collecting it on the edge of the box once again, a touch with his left allowing him to sort his feet out before he placed it into the far bottom corner with a sweep of his weaker left. He was moving throughout it — going from off the ball run to trapping to shooting in one smooth motion.

Eze scored a fantastic hat trick to lead Arsenal to a thumping 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images.

After Richarlison scored a 35-yard golazo to give Spurs a glimpse back in, Eze’s third was needed to quell even the faint possibility of a comeback. It came on a counter, Mikel Merino dropping deep superbly to play in Trossard who immediately switched it back into the middle for Eze to run onto. This