LONDON — As Joshua Zirkzee’s name was serenaded by the traveling Manchester United faithful, Kai Havertz was almost immediately down the tunnel. You could scarcely blame him. He must know what is coming.
It wouldn’t just be the missed penalty in the shootout. It would be the shots beforehand that had gotten Arsenal to this position — for the second time in five days — where a cavalcade of missed chances cast a major blow to their trophy prospects. A mortal one in this case as, for the third time in the five years since winning the FA Cup, they exited the FA Cup at the third round.
Over the remainder of the season, Havertz might not have a week like this one. Nor will Arsenal. Even if this team were somehow to be a title contender made up of subpar finishers, it would be incredible that the 49 shots they have taken against Newcastle United and Manchester United resulted in one goal, not even the penalty they missed. The defining trait of Arsenal’s season has been their misfortune. Good process, bad outcomes. That was Havertz right the way through to a penalty that, yes, might have been hit harder but was denied more through Altay Bayindir’s excellence than something done wrong by a player with a 20 from 21 record beforehand.
The déjà vu, however, was strong in this one. A year ago the great Ian Wright was memorably bemoaning the absence of a “killer” in this Arsenal side. Here was Havertz as Kendall Roy, the man who simply could not be trusted for the biggest moments. Too much of a tangle of limbs when his teammates need stillness and serenity.
Havertz gets in the right positions. That really matters. A center forward is basically irrecoverable if they don’t. Across all competitions, the is averaging 0.5 non-penalty expected goals (npxG) per 90 minutes off two and a half shots. Even after his own personal week from hell, he is a goals equals xG finisher. Those are hardly Erling Haaland numbers but they are the best that Mikel Arteta has right now.
And he kept getting into those positions in this one, much as he had against Newcastle on Wednesday night. In doing so, however, he shone a bright spotlight on his own inability to get his feet sorted. Moments after Bruno Fernandes had elegantly swept home a rare United attack, the ball dropped temptingly to the German international, barely 10 yards from goal. All it would take is a convincing connection with the ball. Even that seemed beyond him, a shot spooning horribly high and wide off his preferred left boot.
Then at the moment all might have been forgiven, the bounce of the ball seemed to favor Havertz. Meeting Martin Odegaard’s cross, crotch first seemed curious but the ball sat up nicely. Bayindir wasn’t going to get there. All it took was a touch, right? Not that one though.
Those misses rather serve to obliterate the good. He might have sold Harry Maguire’s contact for the Emirates’ back row but he did draw the penalty from which Martin Odegaard could have won the game but for the first of a string of outstanding saves by Bayindir. His movement off the back of the United line also delivered a fine crossing opportunity, Leandro Trossard somehow contriving to allow Matthijs De Ligt to get to the goal line ahead of him and hook the ball to safety.
“Incredible how you don’t win that game,” said Arteta, who this week has seen his side turn six and a half xG into one goal. “The dominance, the superiority in relation to the opposition and everything that we did to try to win the game. We didn’t get what we deserved, clearly. There is an element of putting the ball in the net. We did it once.
“We go home extremely sad but I cannot be prouder of my players. The team, individually, what they produced on Wednesday against Newcastle, against two top teams, is incredible. We haven’t got rewarded.”
Asked about Havertz’s form could improve, he added: “To him and all of them, I love them, we all love them. Individually and as a team, they are a joy. What this team produces every three days is incredible regardless of what happens. I’m not going to lose sight of that.
“What can we do better? Let’s try to do it. It’s an emotional part related to confidence but it’s very difficult to ask something else from our players.”
Such adoration was not shared by the bulk of the Emirates Stadium, where many seats were vacated after Havertz’s shootout miss. Add those fidgety misses against Newcastle — yes the cross took a deflection but couldn’t you still have met it with your head — to Sunday’s event and you have a wobble at just the wrong time. The January transfer window brings demands from supporters that do not necessarily correlate with availability. Meanwhile, the best, perhaps the only alternative, is unlikely to be back any time soon. Less than 10 minutes after an initial blow, Gabriel Jesus was forced off with a knee injury. Arteta confirmed it was not to the right knee that has plagued him since the 2022 World Cup. Regardless, it appears to be a major issue for a team already without Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri.
“A big worry,” said Arteta. “He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good. The worrying factor is the feeling he had when he had to come off and the pain he was in.”
As for Havertz, the problem, perhaps, is as above for Arsenal. Havertz is the best center forward they have and there are quite a few better than a player who initially signed on the expectation that his days leading the line were in the past. The 0.47 npxG per 90 he puts up in the Premier League is bettered by 10 players, not just the Haalands and Mohamed Salahs but Yoane Wissa and Dominic Solanke.
Arteta has always been at pains to quell any suggestion of a more heliocentric attack. He does not want his goals to be dependent on the waxing and waning of any one player but instead to share the opportunities around. Surely, however, that can be done while playing with the Alexander Isak-level center forward that the fanbase craves. A good finisher like Havertz scores at his xG. The best of the best find a way to consistently get ahead of the underlying numbers.
“We miss from various ways from different players. I understand that but I cannot love our players more. I focus very much on the ones we have to perform at the highest level. The rest is not in my hands.”
That it is. Instead, in Havertz’s has been this week’s problem.
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