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The Champions League knockout play-offs will come to an end on Wednesday, leaving just 16 teams left in the competition.

Newcastle have cruised past Qarabag and into the last 16, where they will join five other Premier League clubs: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.

Also safely through to the last 16 without requiring a play-off are Bayern Munich, Sporting and Barcelona.

Atletico Madrid came through the play-offs on Tuesday evening, as did Bayer Leverkusen and, shockingly, Bodo/Glimt.

The Norwegian side have ousted Italian giants Inter over two legs, remarkably keeping their Champions League dreams alive.

The likes of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are still involved in Wednesday’s play-off games, hoping to join the last 16 line-up.

When those final 16 teams are known, we can turn our attention to the draw for the next round.

When is the Champions League last 16 draw?

The draw for the next round of the Champions League takes place on Friday February 27 at 11am UK time.

How to watch the Champions League draw

You can watch the draw live and free on the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

The teams that finished in the top eight of the group stage and went straight into the last 16 will play the second legs of the next round at home.

Remaining play-off fixtures

Wednesday February 25

Atalanta vs Borussia Dortmund (Agg 0-2)

Juventus vs Galatasaray (Agg 2-5)

PSG vs Monaco (Agg 3-2)

Real Madrid vs Benfica (Agg 1-0)

When will the Champions League last 16fixtures be played?

The first legs are played on March 10 and 11, with the second legs on March 17 and 18.

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Paul Scholes has questioned Tottenham’s decision to appoint Igor Tudor as interim manager, claiming Sam Allardyce would have been a far more sensible option to steer the club to safety.

Spurs brought Thomas Frank’s turbulent reign to an end earlier this month, with the north London outfit languishing down in 16th place in the Premier League table.

A miserable run of eight winless matches ratcheted up the pressure on Frank and the feeling of discontent amongst the fanbase had grown to such an extent that the Dane’s position was considered untenable.

Three days later, it was officially announced that Tudor had been brought in on a temporary basis until the end of the season having been sacked by Juventus last October.

The 47-year-old Croatian had only four training sessions to whip his new squad into shape before their north London derby clash with Arsenal, which ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Premier League leaders Arsenal were far and away the better side, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres both scoring doubles to ensure their bitter rivals remain just four points above the relegation zone.

Tudor will be desperate to get his first points on the board in English football when Spurs return to Premier League action away to Fulham this weekend.

‘It looked terrible [against Arsenal],’ ex-Manchester United and England midfielder Scholes said of Sunday’s one-sided derby on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

According to Scholes, the Spurs job had Allardyce ‘written all over it’ when Frank was relieved of his duties.

‘The choice of manager that they brought in, I know it’s an interim, but he just doesn’t know the Premier League,’ he explained.

‘I was walking in here [to the podcast studio] and Sam Allardyce is there and you’re thinking that’s just got him written all over it.

‘The first thing he probably does at a club, when he goes into a team: stop us getting beat so easily, stop us conceding chances.’

On Allardyce’s firefighting credentials, Scholes continued: ‘He probably wouldn’t care about the rest of it, about scoring goals, because there’s enough quality in that Tottenham team, at some point, to get you a goal, whether it’s a set-piece or something, but make them solid to beat.

‘I saw a stat after about 40 minutes that Tottenham had touched the ball once in Arsenal’s box.

‘Arsenal had like 24 touches! It’s incredible and you’re away from home as well, it’s incredible.’

Scholes fears Tudor’s lack of experience in the Premier League could land Tottenham in ‘big trouble’ come the business end of the season.

‘I know the lad’s done it twice at big clubs, at Juventus and Lazio. He’s done the same thing, gone as interim and done really well,’ he went on.

‘But coming to the Premier League, it’s different.

‘He was intimating that there weren’t fit enough in his interview [after the losing to Arsenal].

‘Did you see what happened two weeks ago when they sacked Thomas Frank? They gave the players five days off. Five days off!

‘They’re in big trouble, aren’t they?’

Scholes’ podcast colleague and former team-mate, Nicky Butt, agreed that Tottenham should now be considered genuine candidates to drop down into the Champions League.

And it appears the ex-United and Newcastle midfielder has doubts about Tudor’s capacity to ‘galvanise’ the squad to the point that they are ‘running through brick walls for each other’.

‘If you’re a Tottenham fan watching that, you’re thinking: we’re in serious trouble,’ Butt said.

‘He’s obviously a very good coach but when you bring an interim manager into that dynamic, you just want someone to galvanise the changing room and get everyone to a position when you want them running through walls for you.

‘It sounds crazy, this, but go and take them for a little trip away and get the camaraderie back together and get them wanting to play together, wanting to run through brick walls for each other.

‘I just don’t see that manager doing that. I see that manager getting them on the coaching pitch – which they have to do, don’t get me wrong – but first and foremost, you’ve got to galvanise that changing room and get them all together.’

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Gary Neville has insisted Benjamin Sesko must start for Manchester United against Crystal Palace this weekend, warning Michael Carrick that leaving him on the bench again could ‘kill’ the young striker.

Sesko was United’s saviour once again on Monday night, coming off the bench in the second-half against Everton to score a wonderful counter attack goal that sealed all three points.

The Slovenia international is still to start a game under Michael Carrick but has been lethal off the bench, scoring vital goals in injury time against Fulham and West Ham United having netted three in his last four appearances.

Including goals under Darren Fletcher, who briefly took the reins following Ruben Amorim’s departure, the former RB Leipzig star has now scored six in his last seven appearances.

Former United captain Neville now believes Sesko will be demanding a starting role when Palace visit Old Trafford on Sunday.

‘His celebration I think was a message to everybody,’ the former United star told The Gary Neville Podcast.

‘It was a message saying “get me in this damn team now. This is my start next time”. I think he will have been really disappointed having scored a wonderful goal against west ham not to be in the team today.’

He continued: ‘For Sesko now, I think on Sunday against Crystal Palace, he starts. And I haven’t always been convinced about him this season.

‘But what you have to do is move with what you see. United have struggled in the last couple of games against West Ham and Everton.

‘He looks like he’s growing in his game and his body and his confidence is high so I think on Sunday Michael Carrick starts him. I think it would kill the lad if he didn’t start on Sunday.’

Carrick has made very few changes to his starting XI in his six games in charge with injuries for Patrick Dorgu and Lisandro Martinez enforcing the two he has made to date.

But Neville believes Sesko’s form will now prompt a reshuffle with Amad Diallo set to lose his place in the side as a result.

‘We will probably see Matheus Cunha on the left, Bryan Mbeumo on the right, Sesko up top and Bruno in behind,’ Neville said, looking ahead to Sunday’s game.

‘And I think Amad will just slip in behind for a game. Amad has been really good but Sesko has to start, he’s been scoring winners and equalisers, you have to put him in.

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Paul Scholes says Declan Rice has a tendency to be ‘too emotional’ in games and Arsenal may need more ‘calmness’ from their senior players if they are to go on and win the Premier League title.

Arsenal bounced back from their midweek capitulation at Wolves to crush bitter rivals Spurs on Sunday, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres both scoring twice in a comprehensive 4-1 win.

The result ensured the Gunners finished the weekend with a five-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, who kept the pressure on with a 2-1 defeat of Newcastle 24 hours earlier.

Arsenal’s derby victory was not without its nervy moments, though, with Randal Kolo Muani immediately cancelling out Eze’s opening goal in a frantic period of play towards the end of the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Rice was largely to blame for Spurs’ equaliser after he was robbed of possession while trying to carry the ball away to safety on the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area.

The England midfielder was quick to apologise to his team-mates following the lapse in concentration and, thankfully for the visitors, it mattered little come the full-time whistle as Eze and Gyokeres combined to torment Igor Tudor’s men in a dominant second-half display.

Discussing Arsenal’s performance on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, both Scholes and Nicky Butt agreed that Mikel Arteta’s side had laid down a significant marker with the win over their north London foes.

However, Butt argued that there remains a lack of old-school ‘leaders’ like Roy Keane or Martin Keane in the current Arsenal squad.

‘I would put a Roy Keane in there because I think they need a leader. They need some leaders on that pitch saying, “We can do this! We can get [over the line]”,’ the ex-Manchester United and England midfielder said.

‘If Martin Keown was in that team, I would be a lot more confident of them going on and winning the league because he’s a leader.

‘I don’t know, maybe nowadays in modern football you don’t have leaders like that.

‘I’m pretty sure Declan Rice is a big leader, I’m pretty sure William Saliba is a leader but they just need someone to grab them by the short and curlies and go, “Lads, we can do this. We’re a good team!”

‘They proved that yesterday and, I get it, Tottenham weren’t unbelievable, they were bad. But they’ve won 4-1.’

In response to Butt’s comments, Scholes replied: ‘I know what Nicky is saying there. When Roy [Keane] was getting the team together and leading the team really well, there was a certain calmness about it.

‘When I look at Declan Rice, he almost looks too emotional. He’s lively, he’s, “Come on! Come on! Come on!”, and then he makes his mistake.

‘When you’re going for a league title, when you’ve got tough games, there has to be a calmness about you.

‘I think potentially [he’s a captain]. It’s just when I look at him now, he’s so emotional.’

According to Scholes, there is always a place for ’emotion’ in the game – but it needs to be channeled in the right way to ensure the best possible results.

‘I don’t like all that [Rice geeing up the crowd just moments before Kolo Muani’s goal]. I don’t like people being so emotional like that,’ the 11-time Premier League winner added.

‘People will call me a miserable bastard and say that you don’t want to take emotion out of the game. And of course we don’t, we want emotion but it has to be in the right way.

‘Scoring goals and celebrating, that’s great. But game-management in game situations, there needs to be a calmness.’

Though Butt did not disagree with Scholes, he named Rice as the one player in English football that he would most like to see at Manchester United.

‘I think he is a top leader,’ Butt said of the former West Ham star.

I get what Scholesy is saying, he [Rice] wants to win it so much and he made that mistake yesterday. I just think they some calmness in that team.

‘Scholesy is 100 per cent right, I’m not disagreeing with you, but if there’s any player that I would take to Manchester United in the country, it would be Declan Rice right now.’

Butt was ‘concerned’ that Rice wasn’t lambasted by any of his Arsenal team-mates in the immediate aftermath of his mistake for Kolo Muani’s goal.

‘What rang a little alarm bell for me is not one Arsenal player had a go at him for the mistake,’ he went on.

‘If you rewind to Martin Keown’s days, Tony Adams’ days, Patrick Vieira’s days, Thierry Henry’s days, all these players, they would have [torn into Rice].

‘With us, if it was a Steve Bruce or a Bryan Robson or a Mark Hughes or an Eric Cantona, they would take you to the cleaners.

‘I’m like, who are the ones that are leading the team to try and get them over that line. That’s the concern for me.’

The Gunners will look to pick up where they left off when they return to Premier League action at home to another of their biggest rivals, Chelsea, this weekend.

Liam Rosenior’s side will still be hurting after dropping points in a 1-1 draw with lowly Burnley at Stamford Bridge.

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Viktor Gyokeres has revealed Arsenal players spoke candidly and delivered several home truths in the crisis talks that took place prior to Sunday’s north London derby victory.

Following the the concession of a two-goal lead at Wolves last week, a crisis meeting was held in an attempt to help get a faltering title bid back on track.

A run of two wins from seven matches had allowed Manchester City to close the gap at the top to just two points following their win over Newcastle on Saturday night.

The mentality of a squad which has finished as runners-up in each of the last three questions was again firmly under the microscope heading into Sunday’s showdown with their bitter rivals.

Arsenal responded emphatically and produced their most convincing performance since the turn of the year and recorded a morale-boosting 4-1 win.

Gyokeres responded to his own army of critics with a superbly taken brace and he confirmed the candid nature of the showdown talks that followed the Molineux debacle could prove pivotal come the end of the season.

He said: ‘It think most of us spoke. It’s important sometimes just to say what you feel and let it out.

‘You know in the gruop and everyone can recognise how a different person feel in the moment and you get a better understanding of the feel.

‘I think when you speak openly together in the group you come closer together and I think it’s very important to do that.’

A delicious bonus to a much-needed win saw Arsenal pile the pressure on Spurs who are now deep in the midst of a relegation battle.

Interim boss Igor Tudor, however, believes there is enough time to steer Tottenham away from from the drop zone and backed his under-performing team to improve with more work on the training pitch.

Spurs suffered a painful 4-1 loss to rivals Arsenal on Sunday to remain 16th, and the gap to the bottom three is only four points with 11 games to play.

Tottenham have plummeted down the table during a run of two league wins in four months, which is why Tudor was parachuted in for the dismissed Thomas Frank with the aim of producing a mid-season turnaround like he managed at Juventus and Lazio.

‘Of course there is enough time,’ Tudor insisted. ‘I saw the passion, I saw the will, so I was not angry because they wanted to do (it), but then they were not able to do in this moment the things.

‘They wanted to do all what we prepared so I said ‘that is good’ but we need to understand which moment we are in now because we are not able to do it.’

‘Why we are not able to do is the question we resolve and I speak from day one at the club, I come here to resolve the problems.

‘You believe that in three or four trainings you will do your best but when the game starts you don’t know what will happen because it is like this – but as I said before, Tuesday, I come in, everyone there and stay humble. That is the key.

‘Stay humble, that is the key for each of us and try to become what I said before – a team, a squad, a hard-working team. That is the only goal we have now in this moment.’

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Sol Campbell was thrilled with Arsenal’s north London derby win over Tottenham but admitted it was ‘about time’ man of the match Viktor Gyokeres had a decisive say in a big match.

After last week’s capitulation against Wolves, Manchester City capitalised with a win over Newcastle on Saturday that cut the gap at the top of the table to just two points.

The pressure was firmly on Mikel Arteta’s side to produce a response and they responded with an emphatic victory that mirrored the scoreline from the corresponding fixture earlier in the season.

Eberechi Eze continued his personal vendetta against the side he nearly joined in the summer with two more goals to follow-up his hat-trick in November’s game.

Campbell felt the England international was the star of the show but reserved special praise for Gyokeres who delivered his most accomplished performance in an Arsenal shirt since his summer move from Sporting Lisbon.

‘A 4-1 win away from home, keep going, keep rocking and we’re going to get there. We’re going to do it this year,’ said Campbell.

‘Eze (was man of the match) but Gyokeres came close, it’s about time he turned up and I think those two goals are going to do him the world of good.’

The Gunners are back in action next weekend when they face a Chelsea side who they comfortably beat over two legs in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Asked if they would be victorious again, Campbell added: ‘We’ve done them in the cup, we can do them again.’

Arteta, meanwhile, said his ‘outstanding’ Arsenal side proved what they are made of after they thumped their feircest rivals.

‘It feels like we showed what we are made of,’ said Arteta. ‘I cannot be prouder of what I’ve seen out there but especially with the context of the way we lived the last 72 hours.

‘After what happened against Wolves and losing two points with the last kick of the game, it was tough. But that’s the beauty of this game.

‘There was no explanation watching the game back and how the hell we drew that game. From any angle, you say it’s impossible and you have to watch it again and say it’s not going to happen.

‘But it happened and then you have to lift yourself up because you’re feeling angry, upset, and even ashamed.

‘This one is gone and how can we use it to be a turning point and to make ourselves better? And that was the focus, that was the intention today. But you have to live that on the pitch and what we’ve done from the beginning to the end of the match today was outstanding.’

Arsenal hijacked Tottenham’s move to sign Eze last August and gave another timely reminder of what the struggling north London club missed out on.

Arteta added: ‘You just have to look at his face and the way he was in the dressing room with a big smile. He came here for a reason and we need those moments from these players.

‘I could see that he wanted to prove something. He was upset, even with me, because I didn’t play him against Wolves from the beginning. I just have to understand now how we’re going to get the best out of him.’

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Arsenal were fortunate not to concede a second against Tottenham and had Gabriel’s ‘crazy’ play-acting to thank, reckons Shay Given.

The Gunners picked up a dominant 4-1 victory at Spurs in the north London derby thanks to two goals each for Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres.

Mikel Arteta’s side was far superior to Igor Tudor’s, but the game remained in the balance into the second half, with the teams level at 1-1 at the break.

Gyokeres put Arsenal back ahead shortly after the interval but Spurs thought they had equalised again through Randal Kolo Muani, who fired past David Raya for the second time.

However, the goal was disallowed for a push in the back of Arsenal defender Gabriel and the visitors powered on to a big win.

Given feels the Gunners were quite fortunate, believing Gabriel went down very easily and was lucky to get the decision from the referee.

‘This could have made it 2-2. You’d imagine in a north London derby, how much the stadium would have erupted if it had been allowed,’ the former Newcastle and Manchester City goalkeeper said on Match of the Day.

‘I just think it’s soft. [Referee] Peter Banks gives it. There’s a coming together, but this is the Premier League and it’s a physical sport, there are coming togethers. I’m going to barge him, I’m going to bump him.

‘The way Gabriel has gone down. I don’t want to be too strong here but the BAFTAs are up the road and look at his legs up in the air. It’s crazy. I think Peter Banks could have let that go or at least spoke to VAR.

‘Arsenal were the much better team today, but it’s the psychology in the title race. How do the Arsenal players react?’

Given pointed out two examples this season he believed to be very similar, but a push on a defender was not given by the referee.

Leny Yoro against Fulham, leading to a Manchester United goal, and Hugo Ekitike when he scored for Liverpool against Spurs, stood out as being inconsistent to Sunday’s decision.

Former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy agrees and thinks Tottenham can feel aggrieved by the decision.

‘The reality is, if you love football and enjoy watching it, you don’t expect 6’4″ centre-halves to be falling over,’ said Murphy. ‘But, to be fair to Gabriel, he knows generally that if you get a touch in the back and you go over you’re going to get it, so it’s a kind of chicken and egg thing.

‘The referees have got to be stronger. The two examples you’ve shown are more or less exactly the same, so they’ve got a reason to feel disappointed today, Tottenham.’

Spurs boss Tudor said of the incident: ‘Oh, you know about this, touching the players in the box.

‘It’s always about referees here. They have their eyes, they make decisions every time, you know. How they feel. How they see. So it’s nothing. Sometimes they leave. Sometimes, no. This is how it is.’

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Gary Neville hailed David Raya as an ‘absolutely incredible’ signing for Arsenal after he helped the Gunners dispatch of north London rivals Tottenham.

Raya made a rare mistake in Arsenal’s deflating 2-2 draw with Wolves last week, colliding with Gabriel and allowing the basement boys to score an injury-time equaliser.

Neville questioned how Raya would respond to his uncharacteristic blunder in Arsenal’s huge north London derby on Sunday but was impressed by his reaction.

Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze stole the headlines after both scoring twice in an emphatic 4-1 win, but Neville was keen to praise Raya for his ‘dominant’ performance in between the posts.

Raya looked back to his best as Arsenal breezed past Spurs and Neville said he has been an ‘absolutely incredible’ signing for Mikel Arteta’s side.

Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal signed Spanish shot-stopper Raya from Brentford in 2023 as Arteta already had England international Aaron Ramsdale at the Emirates Stadium.

But £27m signing Raya quickly displaced Ramsdale as Arsenal’s No. 1 and has been one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the Premier League ever since.

Asked how Arsenal coped with the growing title pressure against Tottenham, Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: ‘Really well in the end.

‘At half-time they may have looked back and thought, “how are we in this position?” because they were so dominant in the game.

‘They caused their own problems once or twice and I was wondering if these mistakes were becoming contagious and would cost a team who were dominant in most matches.

‘In the end it was really important what happened today. It’s too early to feel the real title pressure, we’re not quite in the home straight, but this is going to get really hot when we get into April. Games really do count now and Arsenal have been in a difficult run.

‘I was thinking about it before the game and I singled out David Raya because I think he’s been absolutely incredible, what a goalkeeper he’s been this season and since he joined Arsenal.

‘But he had all of Thursday and Friday to think long and hard about that Wolves game and listen to the noise. How is he going to respond? Is he going to be a bit more tentative and wobbly and shaky?

‘Absolutely not, absolutely not. Look at his body language, he had authority and dominated his area and caught every single cross that came in. It was really important for him today to get back to his mistake-free best and he made a special save as well.

‘Arsenal had a job to do today and they’ve done it and it was a good day for Raya, who has been brilliant all season.’

Arsenal’s convincing derby win puts them five points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Discussing the title race, Neville added: ‘Man City are dangerous with the fact they’ve got [Omar] Marmoush, [Erling] Haaland, [Rayan] Cherki, [Antoine] Semenyo, [Phil] Foden.

‘If they can keep the centre-backs fit, they’ve got a chance. The goalkeeper’s good, the manager is exceptional.

‘The celebrations at the end [after Newcastle] from Haaland and Pep Guardiola were meaningful. They were sending a message – that was mind games at play. Pep will say it’s not, but it is.

‘Every time you speak now for the next two months, every time you do something on the pitch, it’s going to be transmitting to the opposition team – that’s vulnerabilities, strength, celebrations, whatever it is.

‘So what Arsenal had to cope with and the questions that they’ve had to answer, I missed one of them out and that was the fact that Man City have sent a message that we’re coming for you and we’re going to be breathing down your neck.

‘Arsenal have withstood that, and they’re going to have to withstand that for another six to eight weeks. They were never going to get this Premier League title handed to them on a plate. It doesn’t work like that.

‘It’s a struggle, it’s a battle, it’s a fight and this City team aren’t quite the team that were going through those fights with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, but there’s still some characters in that dressing room who understand it and know it – and particularly the manager, so they’re going to be so dangerous.

‘I think Arsenal will get there, but it doesn’t surprise me that they are making mistakes and that City are coming back at them. They’ll almost crawl over the line in the end.

‘It’s going to be a massive struggle. I don’t think it’s going to be easy and that game is going to be monumental at the Etihad [in the Premier League on April 18].’

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Jermain Defoe has confidently backed Tottenham to recover from their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal and avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.

Spurs had appeared to have clawed themselves back into Sunday’s north London derby as Randal Kolo Muani equalised just two minutes after Eberechi Eze had opened the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But the hosts were well beaten in the second half, with Viktor Gyokeres scoring twice – either side of Eze’s second on the hour-mark – to tighten Arsenal’s grip on top spot.

The result meant the Gunners finished the weekend five points clear of nearest rivals at the summit. Mikel Arteta’s men will look to pick up where they left off when they return to action at home to Chelsea in a week’s time.

It’s back to the drawing board for Igor Tudor, though, with Tottenham hovering just four points above the dreaded drop zone after a winless start to 2026 in the English top flight.

The Croatian will look to pick up his first points as Spurs’ interim manager when his side travel to Craven Cottage to face off against Fulham next Sunday.

‘There is a big gap in this specific moment between the two teams,’ Tudor told reporters following Spurs’ heavy loss.

‘It was too much, Arsenal, for us, in this moment and with the problems we have.

‘Also, it’s nice to understand where we are because you prepare in the best possible way then there is the game to show you the reality. It’s nice from one point of view so each of us understand and come.

‘As I said the players, stay quiet. They come [back to training] on Tuesday and restart after these three or four training sessions to start to work harder than we did until now.

‘To change our habits, to change the state of mind which is now as a team… it is the only way to work.’

Asked if the job may be tougher than he had initially expected, Tudor replied: ‘You never know. You never know because this is a situation that I never saw.

‘We have ten players plus three players [available]. So it’s very, I don’t know which word is best to use, but I like because I see the players want to do.

‘Okay, they are in this position but now we need to restart again and wait for the players who are out.

‘For sure, that’s also a big reason. But it is how it is.’

Less a year on from their historic Europa League triumph, Spurs fans may be forced to resign themselves to the fact that they could feasibly drop down into the Championship should results fail to improve.

According to former Spurs striker Defoe, the responsibility is now on the players to try and turn the situation around with just 11 games remaining of their campaign.

‘Of course [they are in a relegation fight]. The games are running out and that’s the reality,’ Defoe said on Viaplay shortly after the final whistle.

‘I believe the players were up for the game today, like you would be.

‘I said before, it’s not a game that you need motivating for and the atmosphere, you’re probably not going to always get that in the other games. You get that in the north London derby.

‘So the players, going forward, are going to have to try and create that. And what I mean by that is have some quality with the ball.

‘When you get the ball back and you turn it over and then all of a sudden you’re under pressure… in that first half, Arsenal just pinned them back, they suffocated them.

‘Even though they had good shape, they were suffocated. At some stage, you have to show some quality with the ball, create chances and do a little bit more.’

Asked whether relegation could now be a realistic possibility for Spurs, Defoe replied: ‘No, I don’t think they’ll go down.

‘They play against Fulham and Crystal Palace, they’re capable of winning those two games.

‘Hopefully they’ll get the injured players back. I’ve said before about the injuries… the list is unbelievable and it was the same last season.

‘So many key players are missing but there’s some long-term ones as well.

‘That’s the worry but I don’t they they’ll go down.’

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Freddie Ljungberg questioned Mikel Arteta’s handling of Eberechi Eze following Arsenal’s 4-1 victory over Tottenham, calling for the midfielder to be given more starts going forward.

It proved another dream derby day for Arsenal’s £67.5million summer signing from Crystal Palace, three months on for his hat-trick heroics in the reverse fixture at the Emirates.

The England international made the breakthrough for the Gunners towards the end of the first half, only for Randal Kolo Muani to make it all square just two minutes later at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But Viktor Gyokeres restored Arsenal’s advantage just moments after the break and Eze capitalised on some poor Spurs defending to increase the deficit on the hour-mark, capping off a fine individual performance.

With the hosts coming up short in search of a response, Arsenal made sure to well and truly put the game to bed at the death – and it was Gyokeres who made it four with a composed strike in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

The result saw Arsenal move five points clear of nearest rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with ten games remaining of the season. Arteta’s men will look to pick up where they left off when return to action at home to Chelsea in a week’s time.

Igor Tudor’s Tottenham, meanwhile, are hovering just four points above the relegation zone ahead of their trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham next Sunday afternoon.

‘He had that belief and I’m really happy with him,’ Arteta said of Eze’s eye-catching showing in the derby.

‘He’s really trying to mold and adapt into what we want from him.’

On Arsenal’s statement victory, the Spaniard added: ‘I’m really happy, really proud about how we approached the game.

‘The initiative and the quality we showed to come here and win the game in the way that we did.

‘That is the beauty of football. When you look back at the game against Wolves, how did we draw that game from there? I was out with them every day and I know how much they want it.

‘This is the Premier League, it will go all the way for sure. Ten games in the Premier League is a long way.’

Viaplay’s punditry panel of Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam and Ljungberg- who boast a combined total of ten Premier League titles – waxed lyrical about Eze’s display as they analysed Arsenal’s victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

‘He’s such an elegant player. He’s actually a really beautiful player to watch,’ ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel said.

‘He’s one of those players that you want to pay to come and watch him play.

‘Arsenal haven’t got many of those players, but him, it’s brilliant when he’s on that kind of form.’

On Eze, Ljungberg added: ‘He’s so ingrained from being at Palace, you have to always create something: you have a chance, you have to make something.

‘He does that here and I think they should use him more than they do.’

Former Manchester United and Netherlands defender Stam, meanwhile, believes Eze’s X-factor qualities gave Arsenal something different that they often lack in the final third.

‘It must be a nightmare to play against him. If you see him move, he’s taking up great positions and he’s so comfortable on the ball,’ he said.

‘He knows what to do and he also has a clear understanding of what his team-mates are doing as well.

‘He knows them and, with his one-touch football, he can find them. From there, he creates spaces for his team-mates but also for himself.

‘It’s always nice when you’re playing in a team with those types of players because it gives you so much extra, so much quality technically, but, also, the goalscoring performances that he’s putting out… it’s great to see that.’

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