Ian Wright insists Kai Havertz is ‘doing a good job’ as a false No.9 for Arsenal despite his mixed performance in the side’s resounding 5-1 victory over Manchester City.
Second-placed Arsenal swept past City at a bouncing Emirates to open up a nine-point gap between themselves and Pep Guardiola’s champions in the Premier League table.
Havertz capitalised on an error from Manuel Akanji to assist Martin Odegaard after only two minutes, before the German squandered a golden chance to double Arsenal’s advantage with the goal gaping.
Erling Haaland found an equaliser ten minutes into the second half, only for the Gunners to respond immediately through Thomas Partey, whose long-range strike deflected in off John Stones top restore the hosts’ lead in north London.
A flurry of goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly, Havertz and substitute Ethan Nwaneri put Arsenal out of sight as Mikel Arteta’s ran riot to further demoralise their visitors in the final half an hour.
‘We’re talking about a City side kind of coming out of a poor spell, trying to get themselves going, have made a couple of signings. They’re trying to gel it all together at the minute,’ ex-Arsenal and England striker Wright said on SuperSport shortly after the final whistle.
If Chelsea had one today then you start thinking, “Okay, we’re starting to see some stabilising”, but that Arsenal result, where’s that come from?
‘You have to say, the way Arsenal continue to play, put the pressure on, they kept the pressure on City at the back, on Phil Foden…
‘They didn’t give any chances to Erling Haaland even though he scored and they kept it tight.
‘It felt like they had to earn every single thing they tried to get, City, and then Arsenal took their chances.’
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Wright was pleased Arsenal were able to convert their opportunities across the 90 minutes, which hasn’t always been the case in recent weeks and months.
‘The crowd are better to be like they were here. On many occasions, we’ve seen it,’ he added.
‘You need to take those chances to get comfortable in the game and give you that energy to keep working at what you’re doing, get the next goal, go for the next one.
‘And you’ll see it, even with teams as good as Manchester City, you demoralise them, you just keep finishing them, and that’s what we haven’t done enough of this season particularly. If we can take our chances we can probably do that to most teams in this league.’
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After somehow pulling the ball wide from 12 yards out in the 26th minute, Havertz will have been relieved to get on the scoresheet during Arsenal’s second-half blitz.
‘Obviously, the chance Arsenal had when it was 1-0, it was an easier chance if we’re being totally honest and he missed that,’ Wright said of Havertz’s dreadful first-half miss which would have doubled Arsenal’s lead.
‘When it’s 3-1, you’re in a different headspace. He actually came back, cut inside and then had to curl it.
‘With the first chance, he just had to get it on target. Sometimes, it frees your mind up when you’ve got to go through and it’s 3-1 rather than 1-0.’
On Havertz’s assist for Odegaard’s early opener, Wright added: ‘Whatever people say about Kai, he’s made the right decision there. He’s not an out-and-out striker, he’s doing a good job for us.
‘Getting us 1-0 up was what we needed. Getting us in the game and settled down.’
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