Eze's derby wonder day offers tantalising prospect of him becoming Arsenal's Cantona

Above us only sky : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Arsenal (2) 4 Trossard 36, Eze41, 46, 76

Tottenham (0) 1 Richarlison 55

When Manchester United won the old first division title back in 1967 - followed by their first European Cup win 12 months later - no one could have imagined how barren the next 25 years would be.

Sure, there were some cup finals to enjoy, but that elusive return to the very summit of English football eluded them in the same way that the Invincibles season of 2004 has been followed by years of hurt.

Even the arrival of Fergie didn't immediately fix the issue for United. He arrived at Old Trafford in 1986 but still the pot of gold they craved most stayed out of reach.

That was until the 1992-3 season - the start of the Premier League - when Alex Ferguson persuaded Howard Wilkinson, boss of champions Leeds United, to sell Eric Cantona to him. It proved to be the final piece of the jigsaw they had been seeking and the rest, as they say, is history.

After 26 long years, United were champions. What the Frenchman brought was a new dimension, unpredictability and supreme confidence. Who does that sound like?

Arsenal are worryingly close to the quarter-century mark in terms of years since they last won the league. The figure is now at 21. But could it be that they have finally unearthed their own final missing ingredient in the mercurial, brilliant Eberechi Eze?

The ex-QPR and Crystal Palace midfielder had a first North London derby he will never forget, becoming the first player since Alan Sunderland in 1978 to bag a hat-trick in a clash between the two great rivals.

For several years now, the Gunners have been banging on the door, but three runners-up spots in a row have suggested some kind of glass ceiling. But that has changed now, surely.

Eze's treble was a consequence of the overall dynamism running through the ranks at Arsenal now. But the extra swagger he brings - that vision to open up defences with deft passes and the clinical way he puts chances away - point to an Arsenal side with so much more armour than in recent years.

Arsenal's thumping win over an abject Spurs was by no means a one-man show, with fine performances everywhere you looked, while Declan Rice continues to be a colossus in the engine room. But undoubtedly Eze brings the X-factor that is proving infectious and giving rise to new levels of optimism at the Emirates.

After Leandro Trossard had pirouetted inside the box to unlock the Spurs defence for the first time, the result never seemed in doubt. The Gunners were streets ahead of a Tottenham side seemingly bereft of ambition, who Thomas Frank believed might win the day by sucking up pressure and hitting on the break.

The brow-beaten visitors only managed a couple of shots on target all afternoon and were grateful for the crumb of comfort provided by a 35-yeard lob from Richarlison to bring it back to 3-1.

But the day belonged to Eze, who crashed in all three with blistering and accurate shots from the edge of the area - giving lie to the suggestion that Mikel Arteta's men are only able to eke out points through set pieces. They did not need the injured Gabriel to get on the end of any Rice corner this time - there are many more strings to the Gunners' bow these days.

It is a phenomenal start to a huge week for Arsenal and their vaulting ambitions. They take on an undefeated Bayern Munich in the champions League on Wednesday night - though a win will hardly be essential then - before a table-topping clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

They will travel to west London with a six-point cushion and know they have the capacity to extend that lead - though even holding onto that kind of advantage will do just fine right now.

Spurs have to regroup and reassess quickly. There seems much discontent with the way their season is progressing, even if this was their first defeat on the road in the league. They felt obliged to apologise to the fans for their supine display in their most important fixture of the season - though not that many of their fans were still around in the stadium to receive it at full time.

They head to Paris this week for their own Euro assignment with PSG but it is not going to be the easiest of places from which they can rebuild shattered hopes.

For Arsenal, they know there is still a major amount of work ahead with the season less than a third of the way through, but the groundwork looks impressive and the new architect among them may hold the key to whether a new glittering edifice emerges at the end of it.

Gunners: (4-2-3-1) Raya - Timber, Saliba, Hincapie (Mosquera 88), Calafiori (Lewis-Skelly 92) - Zubimendi, Rice - Saka, Eze, Trossard (Madueke 78) - Merino (Nwaneri 88)

Spurs: (3-4-2-1) Vicario - Danso (Simons h/t), Romero, van de Ven - Spence (Porro 78), Joaoa Palhinha, Bentancur (Kolo Muani 66), Udogie - Kudus (Johnson 78), Odobert (Sarr 66) - Richarlison

Attendance: 60,345