Thierry Henry has warned Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard he can no longer be considered a guaranteed starter after Eberechi Eze scored a hat-trick in Sunday’s north London derby demolition.
The Gunners maintained a six-point lead at the top and capitalised on Manchester City’s defeat at Newcastle 24 hours earlier with a dominant display against their fiercest rivals.
Leandro Trossard opened the scoring in the 36th minute before Eze doubled the lead shortly before the interval, beating two men of the edge of the penalty area and thundering a low shot beyond Guglielmo Vicario.
Arsenal appeared to have put the game beyond doubt moments after the re-start when he again beat the Tottenham goalkeeper a precise finish, this time with his left foot.
Richarlison briefly gave Tottenham hope with an opportunistic strike from the halfway line after Martin Zubimendi coughed up possession, but Eze settled the contest with another well taken goal 15 minutes from the end.
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The summer signing from Crystal Palace had made a satisfactory start to his Arsenal career with the majority of his early performances coming on the wing.
In the absence of Odegaard, however, Eze has assumed the role of creator in chief and gave a coming of age performance against Spurs, who he came close to joining prior to Mikel Arteta’s late intervention.
With Odegaard edging his way back towards full fitness, Arteta faces a major selection dilemma, but Henry insists there is no way Eze can be moved from his favoured position after wreaking havoc against Spurs.
‘By the way if I was Martin Odegaard,’ Henry told Sky sports. ‘I said it this guy is a 10 for me, he’s not a winger he’s a 10.
‘He needs to be in the middle of the park he showed it tonight so that’s what you want healthy competition that’ what you want.’
‘That’s a good one man,’ Eze said himself after a man of the match performance. ‘Enjoyable day. Happy to help the team and to win today was a special.
‘It’s special. I am grateful. I prayed for it. This is what I pray for. I prayed for a hat-trick so I am grateful to God.
‘That was the prayer today. God gave it to me and that is faith, man. All my family is here and that makes it even more special for me.’
Asked for his pick of the goals, Eze added: ‘They are all good. Maybe the second one. That was my favourite.
‘All of them are good for me because I have been working on the process to get in that position so that’s good again.’