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Kai Havertz could hold the key to Arsenal winning the league this season after helping Mikel Arteta's side to win over Brighton
Head pounding, heart racing. Eight more times? I’m not sure I can do it.
That was without a doubt one of the worst and best experiences of this club’s season, and it could be a moment which ends up defining it. Not only did Arsenal secure an away win, but their main rivals, Manchester City, dropped points at home to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.
If you look at the two performances, you would never have thought that the outcomes would diverge so significantly. But that’s football and in a week where Mikel Arteta admitted that his side had plenty of players carrying issues and problems with some even unable to train ahead of the game, they fought their way to three points.
It was, without question, at least in my mind, one of the worst 58 minutes of football I have seen Arsenal play this season… and they scored in it too! Talk about the odds being in your favour. Then in the 59th minute, Kai Havertz was introduced.
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Bukayo Saka, on his 300th appearance, takes what is almost a rare strike these days from outside the box, and the deflection takes it through Bart Verbgruggen’s legs. But this was within a period such a lack of composure and control.
Arsenal attempted 60 long balls during the game, the most of any Premier League match for them this season. When I put this to Arteta, it was clear to him that this was not what his expectations were.
“I think that was down to, especially, what happened in the game as well,” Arteta explained. “The lack of composure that we have in certain moments.
“Probably, our heart rate is a little bit too high in certain moments because we are trying to recover as well.”
They can be described as long balls, but the majority of them saw the ball just continue to come back over and over as possession was surrendered. Why?
The absence of William Saliba was definitely a factor, who it is not expected that he will be available for the weekend with further updates to come at the weekend. But the fatigue and tiredness of the midfield were definite factors.
The performances of Piero Hincapie and Gabriel were immense and were it not for them, it might not have been the result that they run away from the south coast with.
The front four just could not keep possession of the ball, or do much meaningfully with it outside of Saka’s goal. That all changed with the substitutions, however.
Predominantly due to the performance of Havertz who could have scored twice, were it not for some good blocks and stops. Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori also come on and with these three Arsenal regained possession and kept it.
They started to play forwards with confidence to a player in Havertz who could receive the ball and find a teammate. Viktor Gyokeres endured a nightmare game and did very little in the end to aid in holding up the ball.
I firmly believe if Arsenal can get Havertz fit and get him starting, he will be a massive reason they could win this league. Martin Odegaard too, his control and presence has been so significantly missed during this period as Arsenal have grafted to get their wins.
Now two games in different competitions outside of the Premier League before the visit of the away form side in the league, Everton. This week is about players getting fit, fringe players getting opportunities and keeping the energy and momentum up.
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