Arsenal midfielder Eberechi Eze was once again the tormentor-in-chief against Tottenham as his brace inspired a 4-1 victory on Sunday to restore the Gunners’ five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Eze, who nearly joined Spurs before sealing a move from Crystal Palace to Arsenal in August, scored his first goals since grabbing a hat-trick in the opening north London derby of the season in November.
The result eased the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side after successive draws at Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers had allowed Manchester City to cut the gap at the summit.
Arsenal responded in style, piling more misery on their fierce rivals in Igor Tudor’s first game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur on an interim basis.
Elsewhere, Liverpool needed a dramatic late winner as Alexis Mac Allister struck in the 97th minute to seal a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest and keep their own ambitions firmly on track.
Eze has even struggled for minutes in recent weeks as Arteta has favoured other options.
But restored to the starting line-up, he repaid his manager’s faith.
The England international hooked in the opening goal from close range just after the half-hour mark, but Tottenham levelled almost immediately through Randal Kolo Muani.
Viktor Gyokeres restored Arsenal’s lead early in the second half with his most significant goal so far for the Gunners.
Eze was on hand to roll in his second goal after Guglielmo Vicario denied Bukayo Saka.
Gyokeres then rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.
City has a game in hand in the title race and home advantage when the top two meet in April.
But a much-needed victory gives Arsenal some breathing space in their quest for a first league title in 22 years.
Tottenham remain just four points above the relegation zone.
Liverpool must improve
Mac Allister admitted “nothing was good” about much of Liverpool’s performance despite snatching a crucial win in their battle for Champions League qualification.
Forest’s fourth manager of the season, Vitor Pereira, was taking charge for the first time in the league, and his side looked set to earn a deserved point until a dramatic finale.
Mac Allister had a goal ruled out when he charged down Ola Aina’s clearance in the closing stages.
The ball was deemed to have struck the Argentine midfielder on the arm.
However, to Pereira’s fury, Forest did not heed the warning as they slipped to within two points of the bottom three.
Mac Allister swept home a rebound after Virgil van Dijk’s header was saved.
Liverpool remain in sixth but climb level on points with Chelsea and Manchester United and within six points of Aston Villa.
“I love scoring, I love winning, so in that sense I think it’s a really good day,” said Mac Allister.
“But on the other hand, I don’t think we played very well. There are plenty of things we need to improve.”
Fulham climbed above Sunderland into the top half of the table after becoming just the second visiting side to win at the Stadium of Light this season.
Raul Jimenez’s double secured a 3-1 victory for Marco Silva’s men.
Crystal Palace eased the rising discontent at Selhurst Park with just a second win in 16 games.
Evann Guessand’s first Palace goal in the 90th minute beat 10-man Wolves 1-0.
Tolu Arokodare’s first-half penalty was saved by Dean Henderson.
Ladislav Krejci was then sent off for kicking the ball away on the hour mark as bottom-of-the-table Wolves missed the chance to move above Derby’s unwanted record low of 11 points in a Premier League season.
