LONDON – Kai Havertz took a long time to win over the Arsenal fans after his summer move from Chelsea, but there will be few doubters left after his double against his old club in the English Premier League on April 23.
The 24-year-old attacker produced two clinical finishes after the break as the Gunners accelerated to a 5-0 victory that sent a powerful message to title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
Havertz took 10 appearances to mark his first Arsenal goal and for those first few months in north London, the player who scored the winner for Chelsea in a Champions League final looked like one struggling for identity.
But those difficult times now look behind him and a 12-goal haul from all competitions looks a decent return, while his all-round play gives Arsenal’s attack some flexibility.
“He deserves it. He’s been outstanding since he’s come in. You don’t realise how good he is until you play with him,” said Ben White, who also scored twice in the second half.
Manager Mikel Arteta showed loyalty to Havertz earlier in the season and is now being richly rewarded with the former Bayer Leverkusen man unleashing his full potential.
“His overall contribution in every phase of play was tremendous,” Arteta said. “When you add the two goals he scored and some of the link-up play that he had in big moments, it was a great performance.”
On his team’s overall display, with Leandro Trossard opening the scoring in the fourth minute, he added: “We have made our people very proud. It is a big derby for us and I know what it means.
“We started the game really well but didn’t convert all our chances – we were a bit sloppy in certain areas of the pitch.
“In the second half, we were much more disciplined and created chances and were ruthless in front of goal.”
While City still have a fourth successive Premier League title in their own hands, the nature of Arsenal’s demolition of Chelsea piled on the pressure.
Liverpool could be level with the Gunners on 77 points should they beat Everton on April 24 – the match kicked off after press time – while City are four points back with two games in hand.
Pep Guardiola’s holders, on 73 points with six games left, will travel to Brighton & Hove Albion on April 25. And Arteta will be watching both rivals’ matches and hoping for slip-ups.
“We have to do our job. Now we have to wait and see (for Liverpool and City’s results),” he added. “We have a lot of games coming up. Let’s enjoy tonight and let’s go back to work.”
Next up for Arsenal is what appears their toughest hurdle left, when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur for the north London derby on April 28. Should they prevail at the home of their fiercest rivals, City will likely need to be perfect in their final games to retain the title.
While Arsenal will head into the final weeks on a high, Chelsea’s recent revival appears to have run out of steam.
Although they were without Premier League joint-top scorer Cole Palmer and had a reshuffled back four because of injuries, their second-half capitulation was worrying.
They remain ninth and their hopes of qualifying for Europe as a consolation after a mediocre season are receding.
“We were not aggressive and we did not concentrate in situations where it is easy to find the solution. That is why we’re so disappointed,” manager Mauricio Pochettino said.
“It is difficult to talk about objectives. If we compete like last Saturday (in the FA Cup semi-final defeat by City), OK. But if we compete like today, do I think we deserve to go into Europe? I think in this way, no.” REUTERS, AFP
