Eze

It’s been a difficult period for Eze, who has found minutes in the league hard to come by and this was was only his second start in the league since December.

He has a tough route into the team with captain Martin Odegaard a key part of Arteta’s first-choice midfield when he is fit and Leandro Trossard being in good form on the left wing, which is the other position Eze might feature.

The Arsenal boss did trial Eze on the left, but he switched off when Matty Cash scored Aston Villa‘s opener in their 2-1 defeat in December and, despite starting the following game, he was left on the substitute’s bench for the next four league matches.

Arteta opted to play England winger Bukayo Saka from the start in the disappointing 2-2 draw with Wolves in midweek as a number 10 – ahead of Eze, who started on the bench.

And the Spaniard admitted: “He was upset, even with me, because I didn’t play him the other day from the beginning, and some of the decisions that I made. And I just have to understand how we’re going to get the best out of him now.”

Arteta was asked by BBC Sport whether Eze’s record of producing goals at the end of the season was one of the reasons they signed him.

“We looked at every stat, but that one, to be very honest, no,” he added while laughing.

“He scored five goals in the last few games against them, which is extremely difficult to do. But I could see that he wanted to prove something.”

England manager Thomas Tuchel was in attendance at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Eze will have hoped to have caught his eye after a recent lack of game time to boost his World Cup hopes this summer.

“Today it’s worked out, we thank God for it,” Eze told Sky Sports. “We put in a good performance. We did what we needed to do, which was the main thing.

“I’m always trying to get in those positions to be ready and to find the space and to work hard to get those opportunities. It takes a lot to get there and it’s worked out today.”

Gyokeres and Eze both score braces as Arsenal win North London football derby to move five points clear at top of the table.

Eberechi Eze has reignited Arsenal’s title ambitions in English football’s Premier League by being the scourge of Tottenham once again.

Three months after scoring a hat-trick against Spurs, the England midfielder netted two more goals against Arsenal’s fiercest rival in a 4-1 away win on Sunday. Viktor Gyokeres also scored twice for the leaders.

Eze came close to joining Tottenham in the summer, only for Arsenal – his boyhood club – to swoop in and sign him instead for a reported 60 million pounds ($80m). Spurs are suffering even more now – his only goals since the start of November have come against them.

Arsenal rebounded after two straight draws that have let second-place Manchester City back in the title race.

The Gunners regained their five-point lead, but City has a game in hand and still has to host Mikel Arteta’s team in the league in mid-April. They also meet in the English League Cup final on March 22.

It proved to be a tough start to life as Tottenham manager for Igor Tudor, who has made a habit of picking up good results early in his tenures at previous clubs.

Not this time, though. Tottenham did equalise two minutes after conceding the opener to Eze when Randal Kolo Muani dispossessed Declan Rice and drilled home a finish for 1-1 in the 34th minute.

Gyokeres made it 2-1 with a shot from the edge of the area in the 47th, and Eze stretched the lead in the 61st with a rebound after Bukayo Saka’s shot was saved. Gyokeres scored again in stoppage time.

Arsenal have 10 league games remaining in their bid for a first top-flight title since 2004.

Eze has scored six league goals this season, of which five have been against Spurs. Asked why he holds that record against their rivals, he told Sky Sports: “I don’t know. I try to score every single game. It seems to work quite a lot against Tottenham. It’s a feeling you get.”

Elsewhere in the Premier League on Sunday, ‌Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister struck a winner deep into ⁠stoppage time as ⁠his side snatched a scarcely-deserved 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest in their Premier League clash.

After a pedestrian ⁠90 minutes in which they barely managed a shot on target, Mac Allister lit the fuse with a stoppage-time effort that was ⁠ruled out for handball before rifling home a rebound in the 97th minute to snatch the win.

Meanwhile, with doubts swirling around the future of Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, his team dug out a 1-0 win over last-place Wolverhampton thanks to a last-minute goal.

Evann Guessand prodded home a far-post finish after coming on as a substitute.

Fulham climbed above Sunderland into the top half of the table after becoming just the second visiting side to win at the Stadium of Light this season.

Raul Jimenez’s double secured a 3-1 victory for Marco Silva’s men.