Kai Havertz teammate 'buzzing' for Arsenal forward’s return in major title boost

Mikel Merino says the Arsenal team are 'buzzing' to have Kai Havertz back amongst Mikel Arteta's options for the second half of the season

Mikel Merino believes that Arsenal’s success from set-pieces is a result of the hard work they put in every week.

The Spaniard is not thinking about the persistent narrative around the Gunners’ valuable weapon and is letting those on the outside do the talking.

Merino spoke to football.london and reporters from the media after the 4-1 win at Portsmouth in which he played a crucial role in midfield and was one of the best performers on the day.

“A big win for us,” he said. “It’s always good to start this competition winning.

“Obviously, it was a difficult pitch with a good atmosphere. I think always when you are in the first stages of this competition, you can see some changes in the line-up - but I think the team reacted the right way.

“Even though we started by conceding a goal, you can see the right mentality, the right attitude, and we came back. So, yeah, very proud of the guys, and really happy and ready to go.”

Gabriel Martinelli scored three goals in the game, with two of his hat-trick coming from corners, and his flicked header from another corner kick led to the opening goal, which went down as an own goal in the end.

Both Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze were providing very dangerous deliveries at any opportunity. Merino, however, says his side always have the same mentality despite the peaks and troughs of prevalence set pieces have had throughout the season.

“I mean, for us, it doesn’t change. It’s always the same mentality, same hard work every training session,” he said. “We practice every game.

“We go with the same attitude, but obviously sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. We let you guys talk about it, but to be honest, it’s our standards, our basics, our principles.

“We try to apply them, and today we were lucky. It showed that the good work we do has some good results. So, yeah, really happy for them.”

Kai Havertz returned to the side at a welcome time after some big discussions surrounding the striker situation. Viktor Gyokeres’ struggles have not prevented the Gunners from being top of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League tables.

Merino says he and the team are “buzzing” for Havertz, who impressed in his cameo on the south coast. The Spaniard had been used up top in the German's stead to varying degrees of success.

“Amazing, amazing,” he said. “We’re all buzzing for him to come back after a big, big injury.

“To have him around is so good for everyone, for the atmosphere in the training ground, for the support that he gives us as well in the training ground, having him around every training session.

“And now having him on the pitch is one more asset, one more tool for the coach. We are really happy for him.”