Jamie Carragher offered his apologies to Arsenal star Eberechi Eze on the heels of his heroics during his first north London derby appearance on Sunday evening.
The Gunners derby debutant was the star of the show at the Emirates as Mikel Arteta’s side romped to a 4-1 win against a severely lacking Tottenham side, scoring the first hat-trick in the fixture since 1978.
The England international’s appearance for the winning team represented somewhat of a sliding-doors moment for Eze, who came close to signing for his new side’s loathed rivals when preparing to leave Crystal Palace this summer.
Instead, Eze returned to his boyhood side in a £60million move that caught Spurs almost by surprise – in a transfer that was at the time underplayed by Carragher in his assessment of the best summer business.
But Carragher found himself keen to clear the air on Sunday after Eze’s command performance, taking the time to clarify his thinking publicly.
‘I must be honest. In the summer when Arsenal signed him, and I had my Liverpool hat on, and I looked at the signings Arsenal made… they signed (Victor) Gyokeres. It felt like a lot of them were to strengthen the squad, really,’ Carragher said on pundity duties for Sky Sports.
Eberechi Eze was the standout as Arsenal thrashed Tottenham in the north London derby
But Jamie Carragher admitted that at the start of the season, he had mostly seen the former Crystal Palace star as a squad strengthener
‘Where Arsenal had problems the year before was when Saka was out, so they brought Madueke. Odegaard was out, so they got Eze. One of the centre-backs was missing, so they got a couple of centre-backs.
‘It was only really Gyokeres who I felt was going to go in the team. And if I’m being honest, I think if (Kai) Havertz was 100 per cent fit, Havertz would probably be the centre forward in this team.
‘When Eze came in, I thought, “Okay, maybe it’s not a gamechanger”. We’ve seen some of his highlights this season, there’s been a few great goals in there. And then he goes and scores a hat-trick.
‘So, apologies. I certainly undervalued the importance that signing was, because he looks like he could make the real difference for Arsenal and go on and win the title.’
In the absence of Havertz, who continues to struggle with his recovery after undergoing a small surgery at the start of the season, Eze has stepped up under Arteta, starting the side’s last seven matches.
The forward has also been in fine goalscoring form, having netted six times in his 10 Premier League appearances.
After the match, Eze refused to be drawn on the subject of what the picture might have looked like if he had been featuring in Spurs colours during his first derby, but admitted he had ‘prayed’ to score his now-historic hat-trick before kick-off.
‘That is crazy,’ Eze told Match of the Day. ‘Special day, man.
‘Special day for me, my family. I don’t think I could’ve ever dreamt of it. This is more special than that. I can only thank God. Special day, man.’
But for all of his astonishment at his derby achievements, Eze’s manager Arteta suggested his tally could have been even higher.
‘That tells you about the difficulty and what he’s done today,’ Arteta said after learning about Eze’s hat-trick landmark.
‘To be fair he could have scored four or five. He’s a big player who can create magic moments which unbalance a team.’
