Mikel Arteta certainly provided one or two surprises when naming his Arsenal team to face Southampton, seemingly deciding that some fresh energy was needed.
Arsenal struggled to overcome Leicester City the weekend before at the Emirates Stadium, even though they were 2-0 up at half-time.
Perhaps a bit of mental fatigue after some tough away trips set in, something Arteta was keen to avoid when his side welcomed the Saints to north London.
That being said, Arteta’s plan worked, even if Arsenal weren’t able to turn their dominance into a goal in the first half.
Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling provided fresh energy, despite not being able to put it all together before being replaced on the hour mark.
But once Gabriel Martinelli and co entered the game, Southampton were already sufficiently worn down and there for the beating.
Kai Havertz told he is good enough to win Arsenal the Premier League
Of course, it’s interesting to note that whatever changes Arteta makes, Kai Havertz is always a constant in this Arsenal team.
Havertz dropped into Martin Odegaard’s number 10 role in the 3-1 win, managing to score a brilliant equaliser before things had time to become tense in N5.
Fortunately, Odegaard might be back from injury soon, but in the meantime Havertz is on hand to play wherever his manager needs, even if playing as a number nine remains his best role.
That being said, Shay Given made an admission about Havertz whilst talking during the Premier League’s coverage of Arsenal’s win on Saturday.
Talking about the German specifically as a striker, Given was amazed by Havertz’s run of scoring and admitted he was wrong to say that Arsenal needed to sign a new number nine.
Given said: “Kai Havertz getting his sixth goal of the season, he is a player on top of his game and for me, I was one of those people saying I don’t think they’ll win the league without a striker.
“But this guy keeps proving me wrong, week in and week out – that’s a brilliant finish.”
Havertz saves the day as Tyler Dibling impresses for Southampton
It’s obvious that Arsenal are now a much better team with Havertz up top as opposed to Jesus, who simply doesn’t seem aligned with Arteta’s project at this point.
As mentioned, the Brazilian worked very hard to tire the visitors, but it required Havertz’s quality to start the scoring.
Eventually Arsenal will need to replace Jesus with someone better suited for the direction Arteta’s team is heading in, someone like Benjamin Sesko at RB Leipzig.
But in terms of talents who can add something to Arsenal’s attack as a whole, Tyler Dibling was superb for Southampton at the Emirates.
And perhaps the 18-year-old could be a future target for Gunners, someone who could follow a similar career path to Theo Walcott.
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