By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Twelve months ago Kai Havertz looked like a spare part at Arsenal after his big-money move across town from Chelsea but now the German forward is fully justifying his 65 million pounds ($86 million) fee with a sensational start to the season.
The 25-year-old put Arsenal on the path to a 2-0 home win against Paris St Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday with a well-timed run and header in the 20th minute.
After taking 10 games to get off the mark for Arsenal last season, it was his fifth goal for the club in the current campaign and he deservedly picked up the man of the match award.
“He has been unbelievable. His football brain, the way he understands space, his timing, he brings people together,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who showed great faith in Havertz even when he was struggling last season, said.
“His work ethic is incredible and now he is a real threat around the box. He is one of our main players at the moment.”
It was a satisfying night for Arteta whose Arsenal team dominated one of Europe’s heavyweights in the first half and then comfortably contained them after the break.
“Really, really happy with the performance. We played an opponent that has a lot of personality, is really difficult to deal with when you don’t have the ball,” he said.
“The first half was very dominant and we created a lot of chances and then the second half was a different story.
“We suffered much more than we should have done. The Champions League brings different demands but I think we handled it really well.”
Victory, following the 0-0 draw away to Atalanta, propelled Arsenal to eighth in the 36-team table and Arteta said it was far too early to start predicting how many more wins his side will need to qualify automatically for the last 16.
“I’m not even looking at the table,” he said. “But I think it will be a long journey.”
Another boost for Arsenal was the sight of new signing Mikel Merino coming off the bench for his first appearance in the second half after missing the start of the season with injury.
On the down side, fullback Jurrien Timber was forced off at halftime with a muscle issue.
“He was unbelievable in the first half, but he felt something muscular and he wasn’t certain,” Arteta said of the Dutchman who missed virtually the whole of his first season at the club with a serious knee injury.
“So I didn’t want to take any risks. He’s been out for a year and he’s played a lot of minutes, probably more minutes than we would have wanted in the past few weeks.”
($1 = 0.7529 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
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