Arsenal emphatically beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 in the north London derby, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres each scoring twice, restoring their five-point Premier League lead with 10 matches remaining.
Eze, who became the first Arsenal player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Spurs in a 4-1 win at the Emirates last November, continued his scoring streak against the side he rejected in favour of a move to his boyhood club from Crystal Palace last summer, netting twice. Meanwhile, Gyökeres produced his best performance since joining from Sporting CP last summer, scoring two second-half goals.
Randal Kolo Muani briefly gave Spurs hope when he cancelled out Eze’s first-half opener, but new coach Igor Tudor suffered a heavy defeat in his first game in charge, with his team now facing a fight against relegation at the wrong end of the table.
“With City turning up the pressure on Arsenal with a 2-1 home win against Newcastle on Saturday, Mikel Arteta’s team responded with character to claim victory against its local rival and deliver a message to City that it is prepared to go the distance in order to win its first league title since 2004,” said Mark Ogden.
Regardless of Tottenham’s current struggles, the derby was billed as a significant test of Arsenal’s character after the Gunners dropped four points against Brentford and Wolves in the past 10 days.
“Manchester City cranked up the pressure even further with a 2-1 win over Newcastle, which cut the gap to just two points at kickoff, and when Randal Kolo Muani equalised at 34 minutes, catching Declan Rice in possession and finishing from a narrow angle beyond David Raya, they could have easily folded once again,” said James Olley.
He added: “However, the gulf in class between these two sides was obvious and, for once of late, Arsenal kept playing with purpose to eventually translate that superiority to the scoreline. They might have been expected to win given that Spurs had only 13 senior fit players available and have won just two home league games all season, but nevertheless this is a result that should lessen—if not silence—the talk of Arsenal losing their ‘bottle’ with three months still to go.”
Igor Tudor now faces 11 league games to save Tottenham from Premier League relegation.
“It sounds incredible, but it’s a fact that everyone at the club needs to accept quickly,” Olley said.
Sunday’s defeat left Spurs just four points above West Ham, who occupy the third relegation spot. Olley noted: “The Hammers, Nottingham Forest and Leeds have shown signs in recent weeks of being able to escape the drop zone. Spurs, meanwhile, haven’t won a league game in 2026, and they really don’t look close to ending that streak anytime soon if they continue to play without any kind of goal threat.”
Their upcoming fixtures include a tough trip to in-form London rivals Fulham, followed by a potentially crucial home game against Crystal Palace on March 5. Olley added: “Spurs have the games to get themselves out of trouble, but when you haven’t won since December and your squad is lacking top quality and the ability to scrap, then you have a problem. Spurs have that problem, and denial about the situation they’re in could see them spiral toward a once-unthinkable relegation.”
Of all Tottenham’s failed transfer moves, their inability to sign Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace last summer remains most striking.
“Spurs had agreed a £60 million deal with Palace only for Eze to choose to join the Gunners at the last minute. How has he fared? Well, the 27-year-old has scored seven goals for Arsenal this season, with five of them coming against Tottenham,” Olley said.
Eze’s 32nd-minute strike on Sunday was his first shot on target in the league since his hat-trick in November’s reverse fixture. While Eze has struggled for consistent minutes this season, Gyökeres has also faced challenges following his move from Sporting Lisbon.
“Viktor Gyökeres wasn’t entirely convincing again Sunday, but his superb 47th-minute strike probably ranks as the most important goal he has scored for the Gunners. It might surprise you to know it was his 14th of the season, but many of those have come against weak opposition or late in games with the result already beyond doubt,” Olley explained.
He added: “Spurs are of course 16th in the league, but the match was firmly in the balance when Gyökeres picked the ball up on the edge of the box and finished emphatically to restore the visitors’ lead. He built on it further in stoppage time—scoring the sort of goal we have seen more often to reach 15, muscling in on goal and curling the ball in from a narrow angle—as Arsenal counterattacked quickly.”
The game was less than half an hour old when Spurs fans started singing “Igor Tudor’s blue and white army,” providing at least one positive for the new coach during a humbling debut.
“It’s very early days for Tudor, but the Spurs fans never warned former Brentford coach Thomas Frank, so the fact that he already has buy-in from the supporters is something on which he can build,” said Ogden.
He added: “Tudor was a left-field appointment, and the majority of fans were—and might still be—skeptical of the former Lazio and Juventus boss, but the tenacity and desire shown by the Spurs players early in this game was down to Tudor’s management and motivation and it impressed the supporters. The result clearly didn’t, and Spurs still have a long way to go, but the fans at least seem to believe in their new coach.”
Arsenal’s individual mistakes continued, but this time they were not costly.
“Moments after Eberechi Eze gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead, Declan Rice could be seen on the pitch telling his jubilant teammates to stay focused and switched on. It was a message repeated from interviews he gave in the buildup to Sunday’s derby, citing a need to cut out individual mistakes that had cost Arsenal of late,” Olley said.
He added: “And yet, just two minutes later, Rice was caught in possession deep in his own half by Randal Kolo Muani, who turned and drove a low finish past David Raya to make it 1-1. It was the fourth such mistake leading to a goal in 2026 alone… This time it didn’t cost them three points, but there is still work to do to stop making games harder for themselves, as Rice rightly identified beforehand.”
Boluwatife Enome
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