Kai Havertz: No 9? No 8? Arteta wants everyone guessing

When Mikel Arteta hailed Kai Havertz’s Community Shield performance as “superb” it may have been an exaggeration, but it was also a reaffirmation of his desire to use the German as a striker that day.

“The way he pressed, how intelligent he is to understand certain spaces and the timing of it,” Arteta said. “He was in some great positions to score but was very unlucky not to. He was very physical when he needed to be as well.”

Upon signing from Chelsea, Havertz was initially envisaged as a left-sided No 8 in north London. He spent most of pre-season in that role, and returned there on the opening day against Nottingham Forest, but Gabriel Jesus’ knee injury has provided Mikel Arteta with more opportunity for experimentation.

In the past month, he has used as many as five players in different roles/positions. All three of his new signings are included in this, as Jurrien Timber has played across the back line, Declan Rice has played as a No. 6 and a left-sided No. 8, and now Havertz has played in midfield and up front. 

Ahead of the Community Shield against Manchester City, expectation would have been for either Eddie Nketiah or Leandro Trossard to lead the line. Both are known entities, however, which Arteta seems increasingly less tied to this year.

“He (Havertz) has played the majority of the minutes as an attacking midfielder but he can play on the right, he has played as a winger, coming inside as a No 9, as a false No 9, so we will see,” the Arsenal manager said before the City match.

“We are seeing a lot of things, the team gives you a lot of information every day and some connections and relationships that you didn’t expect. Sometimes you feel, ‘Look what is happening there’ and it is natural. So we have to have our eyes open to that and not just close the door to something.”

This happened last season with Arsenal’s defence. William Saliba and Gabriel clicked immediately during pre-season and Benjamin White moved to right-back as a result. It was unforeseen, but White has remained a vital cog in the Arsenal machine in different roles.

Arteta being similarly influenced when it comes to his front line this summer is interesting on multiple levels.

With five options for the striker position, Arsenal have at least three different styles of player. Jesus and Trossard are fairly similar as options who feel free to roam across the width of the pitch, link with others and either be ready to add a finishing touch or final pass for a goal.

Nketiah and Folarin Balogun are slightly different to each other, but both tend to stay within the width of the penalty area and do their best work in the box — although Nketiah has improved his general play over the past two seasons.

At 6ft 4ins, Kai Havertz can offer a target to hit in matches like the Community Shield where Arsenal needed to grow into the game.

GO DEEPER

Havertz to Arsenal: Reasons Arteta is banking on switch from Chelsea No 9 to ‘left 8’

His long leg pinching the ball off John Stones on halfway before winning a foul gave Arsenal a tad more impetus at Wembley. Minutes later, he was pinning Stones on the halfway line to chest a long ball down from Aaron Ramsdale and play in Gabriel Martinelli. Sometimes the free man at goal kicks, he would also drop deep into midfield to collect passes along the floor from his goalkeeper. Once Nketiah replaced Rice, Havertz dropped into the left-sided No 8 position that he mostly played against Forest.

The 24-year-old was not as imposing at the Emirates but had interesting moments. He stayed in that left channel for most of the first half, providing a glimpse of off-ball movement that could benefit the team as the season progresses.

With Timber infield, Martinelli pulled wide and Havertz begins his run into the highlighted space.

Martinelli clips the ball into Havertz’s path with his first touch and the German has not been picked up.

His low cross into the six-yard box is put out for a corner, but the space he gets himself in and the movement of Nketiah is encouraging for how Arsenal could break teams down.

Timber provided similar passing options in pre-season, but such movements should be possible with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.

In the second half against Forest, Havertz drifted to the right more often to play closer to Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. From there, he used a smart dummy run from Odegaard to create a decent chance for Rice on the edge of the box which hit the post before ending the game as Arsenal’s striker, running channels on both sides of the box to create another chance for Saka from the left and get a right-footed shot away himself later.

Rice has similarly fulfilled different roles in midfield, playing in a box-to-box role against Manchester City and more of a holding one against Nottingham Forest. It could be key for Arteta’s search for unpredictability.

“Having that ability is something as a coach that you really want,” Arteta said pre-Nottingham Forest. “The moment we changed the game (against Manchester City), we changed our formation, brought some quality players on the pitch with a different freshness and a lot of creativity and other things started to happen in the game. In the end Leo scored the goal, Fabio scored the winner and those finishers are going to be really, really important.”

The squad’s versatility is key to that, which is why Arsenal’s recruitment in recent years has been geared more towards players’ attributes rather than just the position they play.

In some ways, this part of the team’s evolution should not come as a total surprise. White and Trossard were existing examples who had been used in similar ways. This may also be why Arteta was so insistent on ensuring everybody understood Havertz was not a ‘like-for-like’ Granit Xhaka replacement.

“I don’t want him (Havertz) to stick in one position,” he added. “I prefer to do that with other players as well because when you do that you are more unpredictable, you open your options, you open their minds to other things

“When you explore that, we have many examples of that in the squad, you get very good surprises. You need to understand when to do it and whether the player is capable to do it in that moment.”

The exploration of that unpredictability with multiple players at various points in a game may need time to gel properly, but has given Arsenal much more intrigue. Before facing City, Trossard or Nketiah up front was the debate. Arteta went with Havertz. Before Forest, the debate became Havertz or Trossard. Arteta went with Nketiah, who delivered again with his 14th goal in his last 16 home starts in all competitions.

All three could argue they have the right to start away at Crystal Palace with Jesus still out and, if anything, that is the point. Havertz has not set north London alight with his first two performances, but has shown promising signs as a competent and different option for Arteta.

(Top photo: Alex Grimm via Getty Images)