Eze joins exclusive NLD hat-trick heroes club

Ebere Eze has gone from admired Arsenal talent to historic status in the space of one early evening in north London.

Our no. 10 hit a hat-trick which downed Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium in Sunday's roaring 4-1 victory, sending us six points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The weekend's derby success saw us register our joint-biggest margin of victory in the Premier League against Spurs, and Eze helped himself to three after Leandro Trossard had opened the scoring.

Ebere, a lifelong Gooner to boot, has now entered an exclusive club of north London derby heroes, who have hit hat-tricks in the fixture in 212 meetings.

He has become only the third Arsenal player and fourth in total to register a treble in a competitive derby between the clubs, and the first in 47 years.

Ted Drake was the first to achieve the feat in 1934, with Alan Sunderland the last before Sunday back in 1978. Terry Dyson is the only player to have managed the achievement in a Tottenham shirt, in 1961.

We take a closer look at the trio of Gunners in the hat-trick club's updated list...

Ted Drake (20 October 1934, Arsenal 5-1 Spurs)

Drake remains the joint-fifth-highest goalscorer in Arsenal history, having mustered a prolific record across his spell in red and white between 1934 and 1945, scoring 139 times in 184 appearances.

And after arriving at Highbury from Southampton, it took him no long wait to fire us to the First Division title in his and manager George Allison's debut season, netting 42 goals in as many games.

Three of these came in the derby fixture on home turf with Tottenham in October 1934, in which we hammered our neighbours 5-1. Pat Beasley also got his name on the scoresheet for the Gunners on the day, along with an own goal from Spurs' Thomas Evans.

Ted almost repeated the feat within the same season, scoring a brace in the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane, which we won via a 6-0 thrashing in front of a crowd of over 47,000.

The wins inspired a prolific Arsenal side to finish the campaign as league champions for the fourth time, four points ahead of second-placed Sunderland.

Tottenham, by contrast, finished rock-bottom of the table and were relegated to the Second Division alongside Leicester City.

Alan Sunderland (23 December 1978, Spurs 0-5 Arsenal)

Sunderland made over 200 appearances during a seven-year stint at Highbury, and netted the iconic winner in the 1979 FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.

However, earlier on in the same campaign of 1978/79, the midfielder-turned-striker demonstrated his goalscoring exploits further with a treble at the Lane.

Despite finishing seventh in the First Division that term, our best streak of results came in the build-up to Christmas with a 10-match unbeaten run - the last of those coming in our first north London derby of the season in December.

It was festive party time on our rivals' patch that day, as Alan helped himself to three of a 5-0 rout, with Frank Stapleton and Liam Brady also chipping in.

Stapleton then scored the only goal of a 1-0 win at Highbury in the reverse fixture the following April, as we finished four places above Tottenham in 11th as well as lifting the FA Cup courtesy of Alan's iconic finish.

Ebere Eze (23 November 2025, Arsenal 4-1 Spurs)

We approached this north London derby with a chance to extend our lead at the top of the Premier League to six points on upcoming opponents Chelsea, with Ebere facing Tottenham for the first time since his summer arrival from Crystal Palace.

Since moving to Emirates Stadium in 2006, the Gunners had only once lost to Spurs on home turf in league meetings, so spirits were high among the supporters ahead of a chance to claim a fourth-straight derby victory.

Ebere had already found his goalscoring touch in red and white, grabbing his first for the club in a Carabao Cup tie with Port Vale, later netting the winner against former side Palace in the Premier League.

But this was to be the day our no. 10 would enter the history books for good, lashing home three wonderful finishes to take the game away from Tottenham after Trossard had put us into the ascendancy in N5.

The 4-1 triumph in front of an electric crowd maintained our grip on top spot, with Tottenham in ninth place and Ebere joining Drake, Sunderland and Spurs' Dyson as north London derby treble-scorers.