Mikel Arteta added his take on a brilliant day for Eberechi Eze in the North London derby.
The £68 million man had many magic moments at Crystal Palace, and he has written his name in history with a superb hat trick against Tottenham. Just the fourth player for the Gunners to score three in a competitive edition of this rivalry, his qualities at the top of the box stood out for all to see.
“Things happen for a reason. And after the international duty, he had two days off, and after one day he wanted to train. And he wanted to improve, and he wanted to do extra practice.
“And he was asking me questions about this and that. And when a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen. And he fully deserves it. I'm so happy for him because it's the day that he came, he brought something else to the team.
“It's a joy, it's an aura that this team needed, and hopefully it will give him a lot of confidence in him and the team, that at any moment he can win us a game. And that's the ability that he has, and he certainly needs to fulfil that talent.
“It doesn't have to be perfect. It can be right, left, ball on the ground, bouncing ball at this height, and he takes it. And he has such a quality and capacity to finish actions in different ways that we need to play him very close to the box.
“Apart from that, obviously, for example, the ball that he put to Declan Rice in the second minute, I think it was, to play him through and create that big chance is exceptional. We need to play him in his qualities. The more he spends time there, the better for the team.
*“That [desire] is what he showed from the beginning. And when he picked up the phone, I remember last summer, and he said he wanted to play for us and he wanted to be part of this team. You can really sense that. And hopefully he can enjoy today, and tomorrow he's ready for Bayern Munich.”*