Pundit Jamie Carragher has issued an apology to Eberechi Eze after seeing the Arsenal star bag a hat-trick for the Gunners in a 4-1 north London derby victory over Tottenham. The Liverpool legend admits he has "undervalued" the transfer and now feels the former Crystal Palace man has the ability to make a real impact for Mikel Arteta's side as they bid to land the Premier League title.
Eze steals show in north London derby win
Eze was the hero for Arsenal in a 4-1 win over Tottenham at the Emirates on Sunday, scoring three times and taking home the match ball as the Gunners extended their lead at the top of the table to six points. The England international, who came close to joining Spurs in the summer before making the switch to Arsenal instead, admitted after the game it was "special" to score his first professional hat-trick as he became just the fourth player to net three times in a north London derby. His performance also ensured Carragher has been forced to change his mind about the forward after initially being sceptical of his big-money move to the Gunners from Crystal Palace.
AdvertisementCarragher apologises to Arsenal and Eze
Carragher apologised to Eze after the game and explained why he was initially unimpressed with the transfer. He told Sky Sports: "I must be honest, I think in the summer when Arsenal signed him and I had my Liverpool hat on and I looked at the signings Arsenal made and besides [Victor] Gyokeres, it felt a lot of them were to strengthen the squad really. So where Arsenal had problems the year before was when Saka was out, so they bought Madueke. Odegaard was out, they got Eze. One of the centre-backs was missing so they got another couple of centre-backs. It was only really Gyokeres you felt was going to go into the team and if I’m being honest, I think if Havertz was 100 per cent fit, Havertz would have probably been the centre-forward in this team.
"So when Eze came in, I thought 'OK maybe it’s not a game-changer' and Les [Ferdinand] knows him a lot better than me and he still said earlier in the show that there’s still more to come. But we are still seeing some of his highlights this season, a few great goals in there and then he goes and gets a hat-trick. So, apologies. I’ve certainly undervalued the importance of that signing because he looks like he could make the real difference for Arsenal this season and going on to win the title."
Eze 'could have scored four or five'
Arsenal boss Arteta was full of praise for Eze after the win and felt his summer signing could have scored even more goals against Thomas Frank's side. He told BBC Sport: "That tells you about the difficulty and what he's done today. To be fair he could have scored four or five. He's a big player who can create magic moments which unbalance a team. We dominated every part of the game. We created massive chances and had a lot of actions that we were very close to scoring. We stayed patient. Whoever we put in there they do the jobs for us. This squad has the belief and quality to deliver consistently. We have really good momentum but you can see how difficult every game in the Premier League is. It's a long run, let's go game by game. Let's enjoy tonight, then we have Bayern here and Chelsea away. We have a tough week."
Getty Images SportArsenal up against Kane and Bayern next
Arsenal and Eze will now switch focus to the Champions League and a visit from Harry Kane's Bayern Munich next. The former Tottenham man heads to the Emirates in prolific form, having scored 14 goals in just 11 Bundesliga outings and five goals in four Champions League matches for Bayern so far this season. Both teams go into the match with perfect records in the competition so far in 2025-26, meaning something will have to give at the Emirates on Wednesday night.