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Arsenal picked up a comfortable 3-0 win over Lille in the Champions League, but not every player was thrilled with their performance.
The Gunners were made to work hard in the first half. Even though they were the more dominant side, there was no way through Les Dogues’ defence, and the nerves were kicking in.
Jurrien Timber then opened the scoring with a brilliant goal to give Arsenal the lead. Mikel Arteta made a triple substitution at that stage, bringing on Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
All three players had a huge impact and helped Arsenal score two more goals in the next six minutes. However, one of them was not happy after the game.
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The Germany international missed a big chunk of the last campaign due to injuries, but he has hit the ground running this term, scoring three goals and providing two assists already.
The latest of those assists came after a beautiful move that led to Saka’s goal to put Arsenal 3-0.
After the game, everybody at Arsenal was delighted with the win, and Havertz was happy in that regard too. But he was really sad because he didn’t get on the scoresheet, says Arteta.
“He’s so competitive, Kai,” Arteta said in his press conference. “He came in against Lille, he made a massive impact, you could see it straight away what he did on the pitch. He left the pitch and he was so upset that he didn’t score a goal.
“He was happy to help the team, but he was so upset. That’s the Kai that we want, the guy that wants to evolve and improve every single day.
Arteta didn’t just stop there. He showered even more praise on Havertz and went as far as suggesting that he has the best football IQ in the entire Arsenal squad.
He said: “His football IQ, it’s something else. He understands everything at such a speed, and he can process information better than probably anybody else in the team.
“And that’s something not easy to see, especially when you talk about a striker.”
Arteta has also backed Havertz to score 25 goals a season for Arsenal. That faith shows why he is ahead of Viktor Gyokeres in the pecking order.