Kai Havertz extended his Emirates Stadium scoring run to six consecutive matches as Arsenal secured a 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, which suggests that Mikel Arteta’s players are growing in stature on the European front.
The Germany international, a Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2021, put in an all-action performance against the Ligue 1 champions, breaking the deadlock with a towering header on 20 minutes while also winning the most duels (10) on the evening.
Reflecting on his goal – which saw him drift into the box before beating Gianluigi Donnarumma to a teasing Leandro Trossard header – he told Arsenal.com: “When you see the players we have on the ball, when they’re outside, I’m tall, I like to take the space and help the team with those runs. Today it worked quite well, we train a lot on it.
Havertz was later awarded the player of the match award by Uefa who praised his “clever movement” and “good understanding with his fellow forwards.”
“When you have players around you like these, it’s just a joy to play football,” added the German.
“It’s the start of the season, and we can still be better. I think we’re all looking forward to the next few weeks.”
Havertz will draw level with Robin van Persie’s seven-game record if he nets against Southampton at the Emirates on Saturday, something few would bet against given the form of both parties.
“It just feels like home to me,” said the 25-year-old about netting in front of the fans.
“It feels nice to play here, the atmosphere is great, the support is great. Sometimes when the game goes against you, all the supporters are important to us. We feel that a lot on the pitch, it helps me a lot and gives me a lot of confidence.”
In his post-game press conference, manager Arteta was full of praise for a player who was seemingly signed as a midfielder but has proved a success leading the line.
“So powerful but as well so intelligent,” was the Spaniard’s assessment.
“The way he occupies the spaces, the way he connects everything together, his work ethic and now he’s around the box and you have the feeling that he’s going to score a goal.
“The goal was superb, I think overall the performance was as good as from him, so really pleased with that.”
Arteta was also delighted to claim the scalp of a big European club having failed to beat Bayern Munich in last season’s quarter-finals.
“I sensed them differently on Monday, when we were preparing the game and how they wanted it, the level of focus.
“I think they wanted to prove a point tonight against a top team at home, be ourselves and be very dominant as well. It’s another step, we have to continue to do that.”
And on the result generating even more belief that his side can compete with the best teams in the world, he added: “I think so, it creates special European nights against big clubs. That belief is something that lifts the energy and the spirit of everybody.
“First of all it’s about believing you can face those incredible teams and have a really good chance to beat them, and you are good enough to beat them. I think it’s going to be really helpful.”
It’s a joy to watch these players play football with each other.
No one thought we needed Havertz when we signed him. I was dubious as well especially for the money involved, but the way he’s grown into the team and become essentially undroppable has been such a pleasure to see. With his intelligence, technique, movement, work rate, height, aerial prowess and physicality he gives us qualities at centre forward I’m not sure any other player in world football can replicate. He’s a unique, special player and I’m so glad he’s ours.
I did think he could be moulded into a van Persie type but after the 1st 10 games I started to have my doubts. He wasn’t doing the simple things quite as well and his ball control wasn’t that great. Clearly there was a player in there that just needed to be nurtured. Kudos to him and to the gaffer for seeing something in him and being patient enough to draw it out.
An unorthodox player but a good all-rounder who gives it his all and, by hook or by cock (sorry crook), scores goals. So happy he’s found a good home at Arsenal! Be cool if he could add a few RVPesque bangers for the highlight reel but we’ll take them all.
His goal was a brilliant example of a classic target-man goal–Giroud with much more pace; really, the player he looked like most was prime Christiano Ronaldo. I never thought I would make that comparison.
i still can’t see him as anything more than a makeshift solution to our attacking problems, but im glad we’re this good and that he’s finally finding some joy after that horrible spell he had with the chavs. a very good player im pleased to have around, but i feel there’s a lot of room for improvement. or maybe he can be our benzema and it’s actually our left wing which requires improvement…