Eberechi Eze (£7.6m) starred for Arsenal on Sunday with a brilliant hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur.

Here are our Scout Notes from the north London derby.

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EZE HAT-TRICK

Eberechi Eze was the hero for Arsenal on Sunday, netting a hat-trick as Arsenal thumped Tottenham 4-1.

The 27-year-old’s finishing for each of his three goals was exceptional, with his 20-point haul unsurprisingly his highest-ever score in Fantasy.

A constant threat in/around the box, there could have been further attacking returns, too.

Eze cleverly played in Declan Rice (£6.9m) early on, only for Rice to smash his volley straight at Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m).

He was later denied a fourth after a great save by the Spurs’ shot-stopper.

“I probably should have scored four. I’m always trying to score, always trying to take my chances. It’s important to be relentless.” – Eberechi Eze

Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) is nearing a return to action; however, Eze will undoubtedly put pressure on the Norwegian after his recent performances in the No 10 role.

“When I spoke to Thomas Tuchel [about Eze] I said ‘how good is he?’ He said to me ‘one of the best I have seen’. I rate him one of the best in terms of talent. If we add in now his work-rate, willingness to play for this team and the joy I sense when he is in the building we have a special player.” – Mikel Arteta on Eberechi Eze

Leandro Trossard (£6.9m), meanwhile, continued his fine form with a goal and an assist. He has now produced five attacking returns in as many matches.

Rice and Mikel Merino (£5.9m) also chipped in with assists, with Arsenal’s cheaper midfielders overshadowing Bukayo Saka (£10.1m).

The winger looked lively in north London, with two free-kicks well saved by Vicario. He also banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points for the second successive Gameweek, but with just three attacking returns in 2025/26, he is currently struggling to justify his hefty outlay.

Above: Arsenal players sorted by attacking returns in 2025/26

HOW ARSENAL FARED WITHOUT GABRIEL

Gabriel Magalhaes’ (£6.5m) injury during the international break was an undoubted blow to Arsenal, but despite failing to keep a clean sheet on Sunday, they coped very well without their influential Brazilian.

With Jurrien Timber (£6.3m) – who provided an assist and racked up three shots – and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) fit to continue at full-back, Mikel Arteta named Piero Hincapie (£5.4m) in the middle next to William Saliba (£6.0m).

And on his first Premier League start, left-footer Hincapie did a superb all-round job, as Arsenal limited Tottenham to just three shots and 0.04 expected goals (xG).

Elsewhere, there was further positive news with Noni Madueke (£6.8m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) back on the bench following injury.

“We’ve got Noni back on the pitch, which is great, but we’re still missing a lot, a lot of important players, and we’re going to need all of them. The good news is we lost big Gabi, which is a massive blow, and Piero [Hincapie] comes in, and I think he was fantastic from the beginning.” – Mikel Arteta

TOTTENHAM AWFUL/ROMERO BAN

This was a day to forget for Tottenham.

Thomas Frank switched to a back five formation for this clash, a system he employed against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup, but the move failed to pay off, with Spurs poor on the ball and lacking creativity.

Indeed, Richarlison’s (£6.4m) excellent strike was just one of three attempts on goal, all of which were taken from outside the penalty box.

The 5-4-1 experiment unsurprisingly didn’t last long, with Kevin Danso (£4.3m) making way for Xavi Simons (£6.6m) at the break.

After they scored, Spurs looked a bit better, but overall, this was a hugely disappointing display.

“We tried to do something different that was very successful against PSG. Today it wasn’t and I always take responsibility for my decisions and then when it doesn’t go the way we want it to go, that’s on me. We changed it at half-time but I am 1000% sure that no matter what formation you play if you don’t win enough duels or are aggressive enough, it doesn’t matter what formation you play.” – Thomas Frank

On Tottenham’s lack of creativity, Frank said: 

“That has been an ongoing theme that we are working hard to improve. It doesn’t look good today or against Chelsea. We need to keep working on it.” – Thomas Frank

Joao Palhinha (£5.5m), meanwhile, provided the assist for Richarlison’s goal, successfully pouncing on a loose touch. Having supplied his fourth attacking return of the season, he also claimed DefCon for the fifth successive match.

Elsewhere, Cristian Romero (£5.0m) will miss Gameweek 13 through suspension, after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Arsenal.

He will now miss Saturday’s clash against Fulham.