Arsenal have long been searching for the goalscorer who can fire them to the Premier League title, but Mikel Arteta believes he finally has his elusive 20-plus goal striker in Kai Havertz.
The last Arsenal player to break that barrier in the Premier League was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with 22 goals in 2019-20, the season in which Arteta joined midway through.
In his four full seasons in charge Arsenal’s top goalscorer has been Alexander Lacazette with 13 in 2020-21, Bukayo Saka with 11 in 2021-22, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli with 15 in 2022-23 and Saka with 16 last season.
“He certainly has all the qualities and certainly has the ambition to do that,” said Arteta.
“At the end scoring goals sometimes is about very small details and a lot of things have to go for you.
“But he has got it and his mindset has changed a lot in regard to that and he certainly has the ability to do it in my opinion.”
Havertz has three in his first six games and scored the opener against PSG on Tuesday to take his tally to five in all competitions so far this season.
The German scored 13 league goals last season but since he was moved from midfield to full-time centre forward in mid-February, he has 14 goals and seven assists in 27 appearances.
Arteta has repeatedly stated that Arsenal have to take a different approach to Manchester City and Liverpool by sharing the goalscoring load around the team.
Their rivals have Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah who consistently break the 20-goal barrier season upon season but Havertz’s growing confidence in front of goal has Arteta believing he can join them.
Arsenal are 15 games unbeaten in all competitions as they head into Saturday’s game against Southampton, the longest streak of Arteta’s tenure.
But he may have to pick an unconventional back four with Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu all injury doubts.
White has missed the last three games with a groin issue, while Timber came off at half-time against PSG with a muscular complaint. Both players were not seen training on the grass on Thursday.
“We had to modify training for a lot of players,” said Arteta.
“It was the same today because of the load that they had. There will be a decision to make this afternoon whether to involve them yes or no.
“They are close. And Tomiyasu is close too. So it’s good news.”
There are more promising signs for Arsenal, who gave a debut to Mikel Merino against PSG after suffering a back injury days after signing from Real Sociedad.
Captain Martin Odegaard is still out with ankle ligament damage and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s calf injury has also kept him out since the last international break.
“Alex probably after the international break if everything goes well. He’s progressing really well,” Arteta said.
“Martin is very difficult. I expected (him) still (to be wearing) the boot. He’s working so hard and he’s feeling good and he’s pushing it. So difficult to give a timeline.”
(Ryan Pierse – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
