The Premier League title is in Arsenal’s hands after results went in favour of the London club over the weekend.
After Arsenal secured a comfortable 3-0 win at Brighton, Liverpool proceeded to drop points and record a 2-2 draw against Manchester United.
It now means that if Arsenal win their remaining seven games, then they will become champions of England for the first time in two decades.
Mikel Arteta has made some huge and controversial calls during his time in the dugout to get to this stage.
And even Ian Wright admitted, he questioned many of them, but he is now being proven wrong.
One player who took a lot of stick before he could even make his Arsenal debut was Kai Havertz.
Sections of the media thought he was going to be a ‘flop’ when he secured his £65 million transfer from Chelsea, but he has shut a lot of people up.
Havertz has 14 goal involvements in the Premier League this season and Wright was honest to admit ‘I didn’t see this’ coming, as he told Premier League Productions (08/04/24 at 2:40 pm).
From questioning what the 24-year-old would bring to the table at the Emirates, the legendary striker now stated ‘I don’t know how we would do without him’.
Arsenal’s man in form Kai Havertz
“The thing with Kai, when he came, I was one who said that he was coming in to replace Xhaka, as a left-sided eight and maybe playing in there as a ten,” said Wright.
“What we have seen is that he is a number nine or a second striker. Look at his movement now. With Dunk there, he is closest to him. He is bringing him in and bringing him out. This one (for his goal), he backs off and now time on the ball and he is in. That is a striker’s movement – people will say, ‘it’s just a tap-in’. He doesn’t score that goal if he doesn’t do that centre-forward movement.
“This is what I am seeing with him now, this guy is a centre-forward and this is what Mikel is going to want him to be – he (Arteta) saw something. Yes, we saw him play at Chelsea as a number nine. But everyone was saying ‘oh, he’s not a number nine’.
“But Mikel has seen something in him and he has said ‘right, I am going to bring him, play him as a second striker and a nine’. What you notice with him is, even the other day, I saw him at right-back running back. He will still drop in and intercept and progress the play again. He is somebody Mikel has to take the credit for. I couldn’t see it. I didn’t see this Kai Havertz. And now I am looking at it, I don’t know how we would do without him.”
Kai Havertz’s experience in the Champions League
There aren’t many players in the Arsenal dressing room who are used to those big moments and winning major trophies.
But one man who has lifted one of the biggest trophies of them all – the European Cup – is Havertz himself when he was at Chelsea.
Given how much Bayern Munich are struggling this season, then Arsenal should really fancy themselves to make matters worse for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
And this is where the experience and calmness of a player like Havertz will play a huge part because Arsenal should beat Bayern in the Champions League over two legs.
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