Arsenal’s Premier League title charge looks unstoppable as Tottenham humiliated | OneFootball

Welcome to the Eberechi Eze show. You lads stay solid, give me the ball, and I’ll do the rest.

It was all so straightforward for Arsenal, from start to finish. But then, what else did you expect at this point? This is their season, and with Eze playing as sensationally as this, there is only one outcome.

Call them dull and methodical at times if you like – and we have, plenty – but it is hard to find many flaws in Mikel Arteta’s side when it comes to winning games. A big, impenetrable tank does not have to be painted in pretty colours; it does all its talking with steel and might.

There is just an incredible confidence about this side this season that says ‘we’re happy to take our time because we’re not going to make a mistake, but you are’. It’s not that they can’t be stylish – their goals proved otherwise – but rather that they have a concrete idea about when and where to do it to best catch the opposition off guard.

Tottenham, by contrast, looked little short of desperate and hopeful that the Death Star might just have left an exhaust port exposed, if Guglielmo Vicario could just punt a free kick into it.

Here’s a hint, Tottenham: if you’re relying on your goalkeeper to provide all your attacking creativity, you’re doing everything wrong.

Their efforts off the ball were no better whatsoever, leaving Thomas Frank open to justifiable scrutiny for opting for such a conservative approach to a local derby. Tottenham might as well have just saved themselves the trouble and forfeited the game before kick-off.

That left the first 35 minutes of this North London Derby as a disappointing watch, aside from a beautiful early move that saw Eze dink the ball over the top for Declan Rice to volley straight at Guglielmo Vicario.

And then, the cannons fired. Mikel Merino fed Leandro Trossard with another exquisite ball over the Tottenham defence, and the Belgian’s shot on the turn was heavily deflected into the bottom corner.

Five minutes later, Eze’s powerful low drive went through a crowd that included two teammates in offside positions, but Vicario seemed to have a clear view of it all the way despite his protestations; the goal stood.

Then within a minute of the restart, Eze again, firing smartly into the bottom corner after Tottenham haplessly failed to take any of several opportunities to stop Arsenal in the build-up.

The best goal of the game went Tottenham’s way, of course, as Richarlison’s pressing helped force a loose ball that he then ran around from 35 yards out and curled over David Raya into the top corner.

That goal of the season contender came completely out of nowhere, and despite the Brazilian racing to grab the ball out of the net and carry it back to the centre circle, you could tell that both he and the away end knew it was unlikely there would be another two moments of genius like that to get Tottenham back into it – because that is what it was going to take against this Arsenal side, Gabriel or no.

Sure enough, next goal Arsenal, Eze completing his hat-trick with another supremely confident finish after Tottenham again flailed and faltered in their efforts to deal with a change of pace from their rivals.

Arsenal are not a flawless team, as Liverpool, Manchester City and Sunderland have shown. But they have by far the fewest flaws of any side in the Premier League. It may be nice for the neutral to think that a clear rival for the title might emerge – Chelsea, for instance – but for that to happen, Arsenal would first have to badly lose their way. There are absolutely no signs that is about to happen.

Arsenal’s defensive indomitability has been there for some time, but with their new attacking additions – especially Eze – and a more consistently available Bukayo Saka, you now go into all their games with the expectation that they should win. More importantly, so do they.