Arsenal’s legendary former striker Thierry Henry heavily hinted at the increasing possibility that the club’s current captain Martin Ødegaard would have to play second fiddle to Eberechi Eze after the playmaker’s historic hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Eze became just the fourth player in the 104-year history of the north London derby to rack up a treble in this fixture, and the first in almost half a century. Henry was famously unbeaten across his 11 appearances against Spurs, yet never scored more than once in a single derby.
Ødegaard missed the chance to extend his own tally in this fixture through injury, watching on as Eze helped Arsenal romp to a 4–1 victory over their fiercest rivals at a jubilant Emirates Stadium.
In the immediate aftermath of that thumping triumph, Henry couldn’t help but promote Eze above Arsenal’s skipper in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order.
“By the way, if I was Martin Ødegaard...” he began in his role as a Sky Sports pundit before trailing off. “I said it, this guy [Eze] is a [No.] 10 for me, however you want to look at it. He’s not a winger, he’s a 10. He needs to be in the middle of the park and he showed it tonight.
“That’s what you want: healthy competition.”
Sunday’s one-sided win was partly a consequence of their insipid visitors—Tottenham delivered the single lowest xG (0.07) of any Premier League team so far this season—and Arsenal’s strength in depth.
Even after three unexpected returnees, Arteta was still without a trio of injured strikers and his club captain. “We have a great squad,” Henry concurred. “I said it before the game, let’s embrace it. A lot of people were talking before the game about who was missing, let’s talk about what the team did today. And if you want to win the league, this is how you win the league.”
The former frontman suggested that the lack of a recognised striker, with Mikel Merino filling in for Viktor Gyökeres through the middle, may have actually helped Eze. “We need a [No.] 9, that’s what everyone was saying,” Henry shrugged. “And I would say also that you play without a 9 and you score four goals in open play and your [No.] 10 suddenly comes into the picture because your 9 drops, so you can get the 9 dropping for the 10 to get in.”
Every Player to Score a Hat-Trick in the North London Derby
Stats via Opta.
Thomas Frank Knows Who Eze Is Now
“Who’s Eze?” Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank jokingly asked assembled media before Sunday’s north London derby.
The Danish coach was being deliberately jovial. As he would go on to clarify, Eze was a “very good player” but, crucially, not a Tottenham player, so someone he would refuse to talk about.
The former Crystal Palace talisman had been exceedingly close to joining Spurs over the summer. One report described Tottenham’s pursuit of Eze as a “one-horse race.” Four days later he was being presented to an adoring Arsenal public at the Emirates Stadium.
There was only one horse in the race that was Sunday’s capital clash on the same ground, with Eze wheeling around triumphantly from the saddle of a rampant Arsenal.
Childhood Arsenal fan Eberechi Eze scores twice in his first North London derby. pic.twitter.com/KAk3uM3If4
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) November 23, 2025
It was a cathartic performance in many ways for Eze. The fact that this boyhood Gooner, an academy gem who retained his affection for the club despite being released as a child, had snubbed Spurs for the red half of north London, instantly made him a fan favourite. Yet, his output on the pitch had done little to embolden that affection.
Prior to his treble against Spurs, Eze had scored just once—the winning goal against his former employers Crystal Palace—while creating a pitiful three chances from open play in 707 minutes of top-flight football.
Within 200 seconds of Sunday’s clash, Eze had scooped a delicious pass into the stride of Declan Rice, who fired straight at Guglielmo Vicario. Throughout a display which saw him roam around with a sense of freedom Ødegaard so often turns down, Arsenal’s ever-improving No. 10 was left to rue an even more historic outing.
“I probably should’ve scored four to be honest,” Eze admitted after the final whistle, the wide smile he wore throughout Sunday afternoon narrowing ever so slightly. It would soon return, but will Ødegaard?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arsenal Legend Makes Wild Claim After Eberechi Eze Achieves Feat He Never Could.
