Arsenal’s Kai Havertz took his goal against Athletic Bilbao like ‘prime Gareth Bale’, and the German can undoubtedly work together with Viktor Gyokeres in attack, Charles Watts has told Sports Mole.
The Gunners concluded a turbulent pre-season with a straightforward 3-0 win over Athletic last weekend, saving the best for last as they retained the Emirates Cup for the fourth year running, thanks in no small part to some new signings.
Viktor Gyokeres made his second consecutive friendly start after also appearing from the first whistle against Villarreal, where he failed to prevent his side from suffering a 3-2 loss, but he had a telling impact on the Emirates Cup as he opened the scoring with a fine header from an equally exquisite Martin Zubimendi cross.
The Sweden international then came agonisingly close to a second headed effort in the second half, which cannoned off the woodwork, and Watts believes that both Arsenal and Gyokeres are now starting to adapt to one another.
“It was a really good display,” Watts said. “Especially after he scored, he really came into the game. It was a really good goal. Brilliant ball from Zubimendi – the way he fizzed it in – but if Gyokeres doesn’t make that run and get that header on it then we’re not sitting here talking about the ball at all because that was a real striker’s goal. That was really, really encouraging.
“You also saw signs of Arsenal working out how to play with Viktor Gyokeres. Against Villarreal he was starved of any sort of service – there was only one opportunity early on in the second half – but Arsenal were moving the ball to him a lot quicker against Athletic. They’re playing the ball into their channels, which we know he loves, Gabriel Martinelli was running into the space that Gyokeres was leaving behind him.
“There were a lot of signs that Arsenal were beginning to adjust, because it is a big learning curve, and it is for Viktor Gyokeres as well. Everything at Sporting was geared up to play into Viktor Gyokeres’s strengths – at Arsenal they’ve just not played like that for a long, long time. It’s going to take them and Gyokeres an awful long time to adjust, but we saw really positive signs from him.
“His movement was good, you could see that desire to get into the penalty area – the second header was a really, really good header. A brilliant save actually from Simon; it didn’t get picked up too much on the replays but he definitely tipped that onto the post. I think it was that was going in if he’d not saved it.
“As the summer’s gone on I was very convinced that Havertz would start at Old Trafford, but I think Havertz’s little injury and the fact that Gyokeres has started these last two games has given Mikel a really big decision to make. That shows just how well Gyokeres played at the weekend, I’m not sure it would have been too hard a decision otherwise but I think it’s a very hard decision now.”Gyokeres came off to a standing ovation in North London, shortly before fellow striker Havertz entered the fray after recovering from a minor injury, which had prevented him from making the cut against Villarreal.
The ex-Chelsea man is also still finding his feet again after last season’s serious hamstring injury, but he put Arsenal out of sight in exceptional fashion in the Emirates, firstly running in behind a high Athletic line to receive Bukayo Saka’s ball over the top.
Havertz comfortably out-muscled and out-paced Athletic left-back Adama Boiro, and despite finding himself slightly off balance after his final touch, he produced an exemplary left-footed finish into the far side of the net beyond Unai Simon’s reach.
Mikel Arteta is now facing the best kind of attacking dilemma for Sunday’s Premier League opener with Manchester United, but Watts does not believe that it is a case of either or, as he can envisage Gyokeres and Havertz playing to each other’s strengths in the same starting XI.
“Havertz might play a little bit deeper but I think we’ll see plenty of those two playing together,” he added. “Havertz’s goal was great – it looked like I was watching Gareth Bale in his prime for Spurs and Real Madrid!
“The pace that he showed to get away from his man from that deep inside his own half, the strength to hold off the man as well. He’s bulked up, there’s no doubt about that. Mikel spoke about it at the end of last season and you can really see it now as well.
“It’s exactly what Mikel Arteta wants, it’s what Arsenal fans will want, you’ve got two players there really driving each other on to claim that number nine shirt. But there’s a really interesting prospect of those two playing together. Depending on how the game goes, or even from the start, maybe Havertz playing in that left eight role and Gyokeres playing as a nine.
“But the way Gyokeres always drifts over to the left-hand side, that’s going to give a lot of people space to run in behind. Kai Havertz is a little bit underrated in terms of how he makes those runs; we saw it a lot when he was at Leverkusen back in the day, and he might really take advantage of the space that Gyokeres is going to create.”
Gyokeres’s potential Premier League debut this weekend will see him reunite with former Sporting boss Ruben Amorim, who has now added erstwhile Arsenal target Benjamin Sesko to his ranks after being snubbed by the Swede.
