William Saliba could not resist taking aim at Tottenham star Richarlison following Arsenal's thumping 4-1 win over Spurs in the north London derby on Sunday. Eberechi Eze scored a hat-trick as Mikel Arteta's side claimed the bragging rights and moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Saliba celebrated the victory on social media after the game, with Declan Rice quick to join in.
Eze haunts Spurs in Arsenal win
Eze stole the show at the Emirates on Sunday, bagging his first hat-trick for the Gunners to secure a crucial win. The former Crystal Palace man was wanted by Tottenham in the summer transfer window but ended up moving to Arsenal instead. Eze showed Spurs what they were missing with a superb showing to condemn Thomas Frank's side to a fifth Premier League defeat in 12 matches. Richarlison did manage a brilliant effort for the visitors, beating David Raya from just beyond the centre circle, but it was the only real bright spark for Spurs on another tough afternoon.
AdvertisementSaliba trolls Richarlison after win
Richarlison was targeted after the game in a social media post by Saliba. The Arsenal defender posted photos of the match, leading with one of the two players tangling, with the caption: "North London is still Red." Team-mate Rice was among the thousands who commented, posting a padlock emoji and the word "up" to summarise Saliba's performance against the Brazilian star.
Arteta delights in derby win
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was understandably delighted at seeing his team swat aside their local rivals and extend their lead. He reserved special praise for Eze after the game, telling reporters: "Things happen for a reason. 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. 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 since the day that he came, he brought something else to the team. So it’s a joy, it’s an aura that this team needed and hopefully it will give him a lot of confidence, to 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."
Frank apologises to Spurs fans
It was a different story for the visitors, with manager Frank apologising to fans after another derby defeat. Spurs have only managed one point in games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United this season – a record Frank admits is not good enough.
He told reporters: "I think it's three different games. I think the United game was a much better performance than today and the Chelsea one. I also think there's a difference in the Chelsea and the Arsenal performances. Even though both of them look bad on paper. I need to watch this back as well. I think there's definitely a lot to work on still. I think it's fair to say that we are very disappointed and unhappy with the performance today. I don't want to run away from that. I apologise to the fans. I think it's also fair to say where we're coming from. We finished 17th last year. And we've tried to build something, which today didn't look like we tried to build something."