Midfielder stars with hat-trick against Spurs, Gunners 6 clear at top

London: Eberechi Eze came close to joining Tottenham during the summer. He scored a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspurs for their biggest rivals. The England playmaker was the inspiration behind Arsenal’s 4-1 win in the north London derby that left his team with a six-point lead in the Premier League.

Eze added to Leandro Trossard’s 36th-minute opening goal with his first in the 41st, and made it 3-0 just 23 seconds into the second half by slotting in a left-footed finish.

Eze completed his first senior hat-trick — and the first by an Arsenal player against Tottenham since 1978 — with a curling shot in the 76th. It has proved to be the perfect weekend for Arsenal, which had seen its two biggest title rivals — Manchester City and Liverpool — lose on Saturday.

“It is special,” Eze said. “Words can’t explain this.”

Now it’s Chelsea who are the closest challengers in second place. After 12 games, however, Arsenal is a big favourites to win their first top-flight league title since 2004.

Tottenham’s consolation wound up being the goal of the game at Emirates Stadium. Richarlison picked up a loose ball and chipped Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya from around 45 yards to make it 3-1 at the time.

Eze made sure there would be no comeback, three months to the day after joining his boyhood club from Crystal Palace for a reported initial fee of 60 million pounds ($80 million). Earlier in the transfer window, he was reportedly in talks with Tottenham.

AC Milan edge Inter

Milan: Christian Pulisic scored in his first start for more than a month and Mike Maignan saved a penalty as AC Milan beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a thrilling derby.

Milan’s win prevented their city rivals from going joint top of Serie A. That left Roma as sole leader after Gian Piero Gasperini’s side won 3-1 at Cremonese earlier in the day. Roma have 27 points, two more than Milan and Napoli. agencies