Jamie Redknapp accused Mikel Arteta of ‘mismanaging’ Eberechi Eze before he played a starring role in Arsenal’s north London derby win over Tottenham.
Eze scored a hat-trick in the primary north London derby of the season and produced one other impressive performance in Sunday’s 4-1 win at Spurs.
The previous Crystal Palace attacker, who was near joining Tottenham last summer, gave Arsenal the lead midway through the primary half with an outstanding finish.
Spurs went up the opposite end and equalised through Randal Kolo Muani but Arsenal quickly reasserted their dominance over their north London rivals.
Viktor Gyokeres restored Arsenal’s lead straight after half-time with a thumping strike before Eze added a 3rd on the hour mark.
Gyokeres rounded off a powerful derby win over Tottenham along with his second and Arsenal’s fourth because the Gunners restored their five-point lead at the highest of the Premier League.
Five of Eze’s six league goals for Arsenal have come against Spurs and Redknapp described his performance as ‘wonderful’.
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Eze’s underwhelming form was once more a talking point before the north London derby and Redknapp believes Arteta ‘mismanaged’ his £67.5m summer signing earlier within the season.
‘Eberechi Eze made a mistake against Aston Villa at one point and got here out of the team a bit after that,’ Redknapp said before Sunday’s derby.
‘But I do think the manager has mismanaged him. He’s a player who needs confidence, we saw that at Crystal Palace where he was great.’
Speaking after Arsenal’s derby win, Redknapp added on Sky Sports: ‘They were magnificent today. You only felt there was control about this Arsenal side.
‘It was an entire mismatch. They were in numerous leagues, Arsenal were so classy. They were so a lot better than Tottenham, it was like two different leagues.
‘If Tottenham aren’t careful, they is perhaps in a special league. They can’t keep performing like this.
‘Gyokeres led the road brilliantly, Eze was wonderful. It was a superb performance. Arsenal were implausible, far too good for Tottenham.’
Eze was delighted with each his and Arsenal’s performance against Tottenham and said the Gunners ‘dominated’ their north London rivals.
‘We played with dominance today,’ Eze said. ‘We played with confidence and just the connection that we had on the pitch.
‘I believe it was a special performance from us and something that we will proceed to construct on and something to work towards our goals.
‘We all know what some of these games are. We all know the energy that the fans are bringing and the way we should be emotionally ready for the games as well.
‘I believe we’ve done so well with that and we took advantage of that of course. These games are all about momentum and being within the moment.
‘I’m just thankful to God for the opportunities that we took today. We worked so hard, we gave every little thing and once we perform like this it motivates us.’
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