Havertz scored the opening goal for Arsenal in the victory over Southampton, setting the tone for what turned out to be a routine win after what can only be described as a nervy start by the home side. Havertz has been in phenomenal form for Arsenal dating back to mid-last season, and he rightly got the nod of the club’s alpha male in attack, Gabriel Jesus, relegating the Brazilian striker to sporadic appearances from the dugout.
Arsenal gaffer, Mikel Arteta, handed Gabriel Jesus a rare start in the Premier League against Southampton to keep things fresh, while Havertz dropped to midfield, but the Brazilian’s performance left a lot to be desired and Arsenal gained more attacking impetus and became more efficient when Jesus was substituted and Havertz was deployed as the de-facto forward as Arsenal chased the game.
Mikel Arteta’s assessment of Havertz after the game
Arteta ran out of superlatives for the squad in his post-match press conference and had some encouraging words to say about Havertz,
“You can tell [his confidence has grown], he takes the ball and he runs with the ball. He’s on high press, he goes full gas, the way he holds the ball, the position he takes in the box. He’s an attacking midfielder, he plays as a nine, you don’t know where he is, that’s his football brain. His focus now is ‘I’m going to win the game, I’m going to do it’ and that’s a different thing.”
“When he’s practicing, he wants more and he’s not satisfied with what he’s doing because there is still, I think, another level from him. Obviously, he’s surrounded by incredible players but something has changed in him and that confidence, you really sense it and now he’s putting it into games and he’s winning football matches which is great.”
Following was has been excellent form from Havertz in recent weeks, it was a no brainer that Germany head coach, Julian Nagelsmann, would issue a call up to Havertz for Die Mannschaft’s Euro Nations League clashes against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands.
Havertz set to miss international duty with Germany
The German Football Federation, DFB, have confirmed that Havertz will be missing international duty with the nation due to a ‘knee injury’. If you watched the game yesterday, you’d see how Havertz was heavily involved in all things good on the pitch and this was exemplified when he clawed hard to win the ball from the opposition in their half, at the 94th minute, when the game was already won. That’s not the kind of work rate you’d see from someone nursing an injury.
Is Havertz suffering a legitimate injury or is this some ‘Dark Arts’ from Arsenal
Arsenal is one club that will not be looking forward to the international break, especially how the last break robbed the club off one of its most valuable assets, Martin Odegaard. If you recall, Odegaard suffered a nasty knock in the draw with Brighton and was expected to sit out the break, but he’s Norway’s captain and must be proud to always represent his nation, so he went through the first game against Kazakhstan unscathed before suffering a nasty challenge from Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner, ruling him out for many weeks.
In Odegaard’s absence, the team has rallied well and won a couple of games in his stead, but we are back here again and Havertz, who unbeknownst to him suffered a knee injury, has the opportunity to remain in London Colney for a proper assessment and much needed rest, or fly to Germany and join his mates for some national team duty. With Havertz being a vital cog in the German machine, you’d expect him to play 90 minutes in both games.
My thought process on the matter is that Arsenal has reached an alignment to keep Havertz in England over the break to allow him recuperate ahead of a grueling schedule that will see Arsenal take on the likes of Bournemouth, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle in quick succession. They then communicated to the German FA regarding the ‘injury’ and the German FA graciously accepted for him to receive the ‘best medical care’ in England. At least, it wasn’t like the Brazil FA that went into loggerheads with Arsenal over the fitness of Gabriel Jesus in November last year.
In conclusion, Havertz’s knee injury might be legitimate or maybe dark arts from Arsenal, but one thing is for sure, he’s not going anywhere and he has two good weeks to recharge his batteries and get ready for more Premier League and Champions League drama, because he’s turning out to be one of our most essential players.
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