Football is about proving people wrong and you just feel Mikel Arteta is doing that at Arsenal in bucket loads.
When he first arrived in 2019, the former midfielder came from a blank canvas. Zero managerial experience, other than being Pep Guardiola’s assistant.
Not a bad thing to have on your CV, but Arsenal saw something that others didn’t.
Despite all that, it wasn’t until last season that people started to sit up and take notice of Arteta’s work.
Throughout his tenure, he has made huge calls from the dugout, whether it be keeping then-unpopular players on, such as Granit Xhaka.
Or securing transfers that didn’t just leave people from the outside questioning what they were doing, but his own fans too.
Someone like Kai Havertz falls firmly into that category after his big-money move from Chelsea to the Emirates.
The German international was getting verbal pelters from everywhere, including a certain Ian Wright being ‘very surprised’ by him, as he admitted on Premier League Productions (22/04/24 at 7:25 pm).
When Xhaka departed the club, many thought Havertz would replace him in the number eight role.
Yes, the £280k-a-week star has been deployed there at times, but for Ian Wright, the shock comes with the success he has had with being a number nine.
Kai Havertz at Arsenal
“I was very surprised by Havertz because I thought he would come into that Xhaka role to be a number eight,” said Wright.
“But what you are seeing is, as a centre-forward, he has everything Mikel (Arteta) needs. He can drop in and link play. He has got a physical presence. He can score goals, like we are seeing him score goals. He causes a lot of problems up there.
“When the season started, he was doing a similar thing. Everybody was saying ‘oh, is he an eight?’ No. He’s a nine-and-a-half or he is a nine. And he plays in there. He makes really good movement.”
Kai Havertz scores a brace against Chelsea
Arsenal fans have enjoyed many great moments under Arteta. From wins over Manchester City, and Manchester United, winning the FA Cup or away at Tottenham last season.
But their 5-0 demolition job of Chelsea on Tuesday night was probably right up there.
Not only was it Arsenal just making matters worse for their London rivals, but also watching Havertz net a brace against his former side.
The player himself didn’t do the old ‘I am not going to celebrate’. He made sure to celebrate on both occasions and enjoy the moment.