Feather-light brutality from a player on a plane of his own dismisses toothless Tottenham

Has there ever been a softer, more delicate act of derby day brutality than this, a hat-trick in a 4-1 win where every goal must have felt like being bludgeoned to death with a feather-light Parisian macaron?

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Eberechi Eze’s third goal, the killer, the legend-maker, was the funniest, and also the most telling. It was made by a thrust down the left, and by Leandro Trossard’s smart pass. But it was made as an aesthetic by Destiny Udogie falling over, not because of any real act of trickery, but because Eze stopped suddenly, out there in the middle of all that heat and light, taking the ball on the edge of the Spurs box and simply ceasing to move, like a squirrel on a branch.

Udogie tried to follow and slipped, leaving Eze in his own clean, clear pocket of space to slip the ball into the corner of the Tottenham net. All three of his goals seemed to be made from this same stuff, remarkable for their ease, for the effortless power in his movements. Eze is remarkable to watch in this sense, a footballer who seems to be moving about on his own distinct plane just above ground level.