Kai Havertz is back in the Arsenal starting XI on Wednesday night against Kairat and Mikel Arteta admits he has missed the forward ‘big time’.
The German has missed the majority of the season so far due to injury, with a serious knee problem ruling him out from mid-August till he made his return this month.
With Gabriel Jesus also suffering with injury this season, the pressure has been on summer signing Viktor Gyokeres up front, with the Swede not entirely convincing thus far in an Arsenal shirt.
Havertz is now back and fit enough to start in the Champions League this week, which Arteta is thrilled about.
The Spaniard now has all three of his forwards fit and available, admitting that the German’s absence has been a significant problem.
‘We have been missing him big time,’ Arteta told TNT Sports. ‘He has been out for a long, long time. It is great to see him back and having a start in this context, I think it’s really important.’
In a game which has no real importance as Arsenal have already guaranteed Champions League qualification, Arteta has made 11 changes to the team that lost to Manchester United on Sunday.
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The Gunners boss says it shows that his squad is in a strong position, heading towards the business end of the season.
‘Good news, it means we have lots of players available,’ he said. ‘That is what we need with the schedule at the moment. Important to maintain the quality and maintain everybody’s minutes.’
Speaking last week, Arteta said Havertz was close to a return to Premier League action for the first time since August.
‘He is very close,’ said the manager. ‘Obviously he has been out for a long time, almost a year for different reasons, and now we have to be very smart in the manner that we manage the load, and I am sure in the next few weeks he is going to play minutes.
‘It’s great that we have him, that we can use him in different positions, and you’ll see him in different positions, and we are really happy to have him.’
Arteta then left Havertz out of the squad to face Manchester United entirely, causing more fears over his fitness.
However, clearly he was just managing his minutes as he has returned to the starting XI and to finding the back of the net on Wednesday night.
