Don’t whack Kai’s knee … Quinten Timber
Morning.
The first round of games of the Interlull = one injury sustained to a key player. I know as football fans, and Arsenal fans in particular, we can be a little fatalistic at times, but this really does feel like the most Arsenal thing in the world.
Kai Havertz was on the end of an unnecessarily crude challenge from Quinten Timber (yes, brother of Jurrien and who was quite lucky not to get a red card when you see where his studs land), and apparently carried on for a bit before sitting down. There’s a video in which he looks a bit shaken and appears to say ‘hamstring’ to the physio as he comes over.
Afterwards, Jurgen Klopp confirmed it was a muscular problem, referring to Havertz and also Jamal Musiala who picked up an injury in the warm up:
“Both are currently undergoing an MRI. I hope we get the diagnosis on Thursday evening. But of course, this isn’t great. I hope it’s nothing serious. The lads are probably out for us. But hopefully, they’ll be back in action relatively quickly.”
All we can do now, of course, is wait, and hope whatever it is, it’s not too serious. If it’s a minor muscle strain, typically you’re looking at about three weeks, and thus the elongated nature of this Interlull might prove to be beneficial. Anything more than that – and it’s hard not to have some concern given the seriousness of the hamstring injury he sustained previously – well, I don’t think you need me to tell you that would be a significant blow.
I feel like we’re already light in the attacking third, perhaps not in terms of numbers, but there’s something missing from this squad, and while Havertz is not the perfect striker, he is – in my opinion anyway – the best option we have available to us based on how we set up and how the manager wants us to play. So, let’s keep fingers crossed that it is just minor.
Obviously, if he were absent for a while, Viktor Gyokeres would be champing at the bit to take his place. The Swedish international has mustered just 29 minutes of playing time in the Premier League so far this season, and he’s the obvious go-to if Havertz is not available. Our first game back when the football recommences is a home game against Leeds, and he scored twice in this fixture last season – although I think we faced a bit of a different Leeds at that point of the season. He’s likely to be in action tonight as Sweden face Romania, so let’s hope he doesn’t get run over by a steamroller, and also boosts his confidence with a good display and a couple of goals (sorry Romania fans!).
There’s also another player to consider (fun memes aside!):
If there is a Havertz absence, I really do think there are going to be certain games where Mikel Merino is a better option to start for us than Gyokeres. With our depth in midfield too, we’re not leaving ourselves short in that area of the pitch if he were to get the nod up top, and it would not surprise me one bit if Mikel Arteta had that in the back of his mind as an option anyway. I think he really wanted another attacking player in the last window, but as a kind of ultra-experienced, technically solid and reliable safety net, you don’t get much better than the Spanish international. So, let’s keep everything crossed for Kai, and that our alternatives also come through this break without incident.
October 10th: “Max, how do you fancy playing up top with Marli?”
Elsewhere, Christos Tzolis scored for Greece as they beat Serbia 2-1, a nice touch and shot with his left foot, the likes of which I’d like to see a bit more of for us. I think he’s in that early stage of his career at a new club where he’s trying to be really considerate of his teammates, and that’s understandable, but sometimes I think he could just pull the trigger.
And in a 3-2 win over Denmark, Martin Odegaard played the full game and provided a couple of assists. First for Oscar Bobb, then for Erling Haaland to score what would ultimately turn out to be the winning goal. His season for us has been impressive so far, but the end product has been goals, so it’s nice to see him get his creative juices flowing.
So, that’s just about that for this morning. If you fancy it now that the dust has settled, in our new series on YouTube, Lewis takes a look back at the Brighton game, with some interesting insights into the result and performance. You can see the video below, and if you fancy subscribing to the channel, that would be very much appreciated too.
For some extra reading, Tim’s column this week is about the challenge of retaining the title. And for something to listen to, there’s an Arsecast below chatting with Clive Palmer about our start to the season, and a trip down memory lane to relive some of that epic Arsenal v Man Utd rivalry with the author of a new book which covers exactly that. You can also win a copy of the book too in an easy to enter competition.
For now, have a good Friday folks.
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