Speaking on Sky Sports News, the Arsenal legend said he couldn’t understand why Mikel Arteta opted to start Leandro Trossard instead.
Kai Havertz has enjoyed a promising run of form over the past week after netting against Brentford and RC Lens.
The 24-year-old was struggling to find his feet at Arsenal following a £65 million switch from Chelsea over the summer.
Indeed, Darren Bent claimed just last month that Havertz’s start to life at the Emirates Stadium simply hasn’t been good enough.
But the German international popped up with a last-minute winner at Brentford and then put in an eye-catching display in the Champions League on Wednesday.
And eyebrows were raised today when Arteta decided to leave the former Chelsea man out of his starting XI.
Merson shocked Havertz didn’t start for Arsenal vs Wolves
Merson was asked what he made of Arteta’s decision to drop Havertz to the bench for Trossard against Wolves today.
“I don’t know,” the former Arsenal man told Sky Sports. “I really don’t know. But you’ve got to go with what he’s done“With the Havertz one, he’s done well. He came on the other day and he did well against Lens.
“Lens is a different game to this game today. I’m surprised he’s not playing but it’s like for like. I think this is a difficult game.”
While it was a surprise to see Havertz miss out today, the Gunners got off to a flyer without the German.
Indeed, Bukayo Saka opened the scoring inside the opening six minutes before Martin Odegaard doubled their advantage just seven minutes later.
Wolves did come back into the game in the second half and grabbed a late consolation goal through Matheus Cunha.
But Arsenal managed to see out a crucial win and had the chances to put the game to bed before Cunha’s 85th minute strike.
As for Havertz, he replaced Gabriel Martinelli in the 77th minute but had little time to make a real impact on the game. After a decent run of form, he will certainly be hoping to regain his starting place next week.
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