Jamie Carragher has issued an apology after previously criticising Arsenal's summer signing of Eberechi Eze. The mercurial 27-year-old midfielder, who turned down Tottenham Hotspur to join Arsenal, propelled Mikel Arteta's team to a 4-1 triumph over Spurs at the Emirates on Sunday evening that strengthens their Premier League title bid.
Following Eze's hat-trick in the north London Derby, the former Liverpool defender admitted on Sky Sports: "I must be honest I think when Arsenal signed him and when I had my Liverpool hat on, and I looked at the signings Arsenal made.. Beside Viktor Gyokeres, it felt like a loy of them were to strengthen the squad really. So where Arsenal had problems the year before was when [Bukayo] Saka was out, they bought [Noni] Madueke. [Martin] Odegaard was out, they bought Eze.
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"One of the centre-backs was out so they got a couple of centre-backs. It was only really Gyokeres who I felt was going to go into the team. If I am being honest I think if [Kai] Havertz was one hundred per cent fit, Havertz would probably be the centre-forward in this team I think."
"So, when Eze came in I thought, 'OK maybe he's not a game-changer' and Les [Ferdinand] knows him a lot better than me and he still said earlier on in the show 'there's still a lot more to come'. But then we still see some of his highlights this season and there are a fee great goals in there and then he goes and scores a hat-trick, so apologies.
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"Certainly undervalued the importance that signing was because he looks like he could make a real difference for Arsenal this season and go on and win the title."
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Eze refused to acknowledge the fact he almost joined Spurs in the summer before his switch from Crystal Palace to Arsenal. Speaking on the pitch after his hat-trick, the England international said to Sky Sports: "Let's not speak about that."
The boyhood Arsenal supporter added: "That's a good one [feeling], enjoyable day, I'm happy to help the team. It's special, you know? Special man, I'm grateful again. I prayed for it, I prayed for a hat-trick, I'm grateful man. That was a prayer today and God delivered."
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And Eze's manager Mikel Arteta said of the playmaker to BBC Match of the Day, on being told he is only the fourth player ever to score a hat-trick in a north London derby: "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."