Tottenham Hotspur tried so hard to sign Eberechi Eze this past summer transfer window after his big FA Cup title win for Crystal Palace, but the England international only had eyes for his childhood club Arsenal, signing with them over Spurs at the last second.
Coming into the first North London Derby of both Eze's and Thomas Frank's careers, the latter made the unwise decision of, even in joking manager, remarking, "Who's Eze?" when asked the obvious question about the big transfer snub of the summer.
Frank provided Arsenal and Eze with a soundbite and bulletin board material that Eze then turned into a red faced moment for Frank. It was almost comical watching him out there, as he could not be stopped. Eze was untouchable, scoring a remarkable hat trick and dominating a totally lethargic Tottenham side that was overly defensive in approach and yet still sieve like.
Eberechi Eze was the story of the North London Derby
He ran circles around the Tottenham midfield, exposing Frank's tactical disasterclass as the Premier League leading Arsenal won 4-1 with three of those goals directly from the boot of the attacking midfielder entering his prime.
So much for the boost of Arsenal not having captain Martin Odegaard out there, as Eze turned in the most memorable individual performance of the 2025/26 Premier League season so far with his hat trick, showing his bags of quality. Meanwhile, Xavi Simons, the player Spurs signed instead, didn't even start thanks to the galaxy brain of Frank in the dugout.
Tottenham only didn't sign Eze because they were unwilling to pony up a few extra million pounds that Arsenal were in order to sweeten the pot for Crystal Palace. They could have easily signed Eze if they were more proactive this summer, even with that overarching theme of Arsenal being his childhood club.
And then on Sunday, Frank made things worse by being so ill prepared. He was ostensibly so confident in his game plan that he made that back handed quib about Eze in the pre game press conference, and yet when it all went down on Sunday, he was totally empty handed. His approach was disastrous, and Eze absolutely ate Tottenham alive.
And now, it is Eze, the man they missed, who has sent Tottenham into a crisis point, and perhaps this will be the first domino to fall in Frank's demise at Spurs. Only he can respond in kind to save himself after Eze embarrassed him.