Kai Havertz missed two huge chances to score Arsenal’s second goal against Man City at the weekend and Ian Wright thinks an out-and-out striker would have put them both away.
The German attacker netted Arsenal’s first through brilliant pressing from the front, which is exactly where the Gunners benefit from having him in the team.
💭 Fill in the blank: Arsenal are at their best when ______________ starts up front…
However, he also showed the other side of his game, as he spurned two massive opportunities to score a second for Arsenal, where perhaps a proper number nine could have buried.
Wright has now been discussing the 26-year-old’s two biggest missed chances against City, and it just highlights the dilemma facing Mikel Arteta.
Ian Wright laments Kai Havertz’s missed chances vs Man City
Ian Wright was so frustrated with Kai Havertz’s two big missed chances in the second half of Arsenal’s defeat to Man City.
Havertz’s first chance was one where Martin Odegaard laid it off to him, but he hit it straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The former Chelsea star then missed the most glorious opportunity in stoppage time, as he sent his header just over the top of the crossbar.
The former Arsenal striker thinks that a natural number nine, like Viktor Gyokeres, would have buried both chances.
Wright told The Overlap: “It was a fantastic chance, to the point where it came over, I’m thinking there’s only one outcome.
“So when he missed it, you think, well, that’s that, and we have to look at the fact that our striker, who we bought to try and take those chances, he’s not even on the pitch, right?
💭 Predict Arsenal and Man City’s final five results…
“Maybe if he was on the pitch as a natural striker, he would realise, right, I got to make sure this ball’s coming in here.
“He might have done it, but Kai, you know, just coming back in, you know, I mean, we know he’s not an out-and-out striker.
“Now you can look at it, and start analysing because if that was an out-and-out striker, I think he scores that and I think he scores the one where he goes through and the goalie saves it.”
Kai Havertz’s ability in front of goal could cost Arsenal the title
Havertz offers this Arsenal team so much in terms of work rate and link-up; however, his ability in front of goal could cost Arsenal the title.
When the Gunners needed a player to be clinical, their best two chances to score a second fell his way, and both were missed.
Arsenal fans loved Havertz’s performance versus Man City in the first 45 minutes, but the second half was such a contrast.
In a game of such fine margins, when the stakes are so high, Arsenal simply cannot afford for their number nine to be so wasteful in front of the target.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
