Neville thought Arsenal ace was "terrible" last season; he's now totally undroppable - opinion

Mikel Arteta's side are level on points with Manchester City in the Premier League despite playing some of their most challenging away games of the campaign, and after last night, they have four points from six in the Champions League.

The North Londoners had the unenviable task of taking on French giants Paris Saint-Germain, but from minute one to minute 90, they looked like the far superior team and ran out as comfortable winners.

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There were excellent performances all over the pitch from Arteta's men, but perhaps the stand-out was a player who took more than his fair share of criticism last season, Kai Havertz.

Havertz's initial struggles

Arsenal surprised the footballing world last summer when they paid Chelsea a whopping £65m for the much-maligned Havertz, who, aside from scoring the winner in the Champions League final in 2021, had been somewhat of a disappointment in West London.

While Arteta was happy with his new signing, there was more than a little bit of criticism from fans and pundits alike, with former professional Gabby Agbonlahor particularly scathing, describing the transfer as "very strange" and the "wrong deal for the Gunners."

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Unfortunately for the North Londoners, early on in the German's time at the club, it looked like Agbonlahor was going to be proven right, as in his first 24 league games, the Aachen-born star scored just five goals and provided one assist, in turn lending credence to Gary Neville's description of his game against Liverpool in December as "terrible."

However, as fans will now attest, Arteta's decision to move the former Bayer Leverkusen ace from midfield to centre-forward towards the backend of last season has utterly transformed his form in red and white.

So, while Havertz had played a few games up top for Arsenal in the first two-thirds of last season, it wasn't until late February that Arteta decided to make the change a more permanent one, and from that point onwards, the former Chelsea ace has been sublime.

For example, in his 32 appearances in attacking midfield, the 25-year-old scored six goals and failed to provide a single assist, meaning he was averaging a goal involvement once every 5.33 games.

However, in the 18 games he played up top, the 53-capped international racked up a genuinely impressive haul of eight goals and seven assists, equating to a world-class average of a goal involvement every 1.20 games.