Arsenal has suffered more injury woes, with the Daily Mail revealing that Kai Havertz has picked up a physical problem during their training camp in Dubai.
Havertz, who has become one of the most important players for Arsenal this season, has been playing as the team’s primary striker for the past few weeks since Gabriel Jesus sustained an injury. The German international’s versatility has made him a key figure in Mikel Arteta’s side, but now Arsenal faces an anxious wait to discover the extent of his latest setback.
In January, the Gunners made an attempt to sign Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, but their efforts were turned down. At the time, the club’s pursuit of another striker was seen as important, but the situation now looks even more pressing. With Havertz’s injury, Arsenal may regret not pushing harder for a new forward, especially with the report suggesting that the German may be sidelined for some time.
Havertz suffered the injury during a training session in Dubai, and although further medical investigations will be carried out, the report suggests he could spend several weeks on the sidelines. His absence will be a significant blow for Arsenal, as he has been the only recognised frontman the club has relied on for much of the current campaign.
The Gunners will now need to find a creative solution to ensure they have a striker on the pitch when they return to action. While Arsenal waits for the results of further tests to determine the full extent of Havertz’s injury, losing him for even one match could have serious consequences. He has been an integral part of the team, and without him, the club faces a difficult task of maintaining their momentum in the Premier League title race.
The injury crisis at Arsenal continues to worsen, and with key players out, the club will need to find a way to adapt. However, despite these challenges, there is hope that the team can continue to win matches and fight for the Premier League title. The Gunners remain determined to push forward, even with the setbacks they face.
ADMIN COMMENT
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Couldn’t get any worse
Havertz out for the season
SueP,
As each day passes, our January transfer window looks better and better doesn’t it.🙄🤦♂️
Derek
I look at it like this and no doubt I’ll be at odds with you and many others:-
Arteta and the club do not have a crystal ball
They came into the window late – my view being that it was only the injury to Jesus that prompted the Watkins bid. Otherwise, I think the thrust of their business was being left until the summer
I completely understand why they chose not to buy ‘another body’. A loan option was understandable but not an overpriced player on a 3 year plus deal that would most likely end up as another one of “Arteta’s bad signings “
From my point of view Havertz is a big miss but your view on him is hardly favourable so he won’t be missed
Sue enough now
You can’t keep defending this
They knew start of January we were short
Dan
I’ve seen your list and I’ve listened to Arteta speaking about only bringing in a suitable player.
I’m not denying that we were short and are now even worse off. You have helpfully written about net spends etc but unless the player(s) you want are actually available then aren’t you throwing good money after bad? Almost every other day there are posts going on and on about all the terrible signings Arteta has made. It’s actually a bit hollow now we’ve lost our best striker who has been the subject of so many negative comments
As you pointed out below, there are other avenues but I’d say it’s impossible to cover every eventuality. Serious injuries have severely impacted our season and other clubs have also suffered as well. Sod’s law that it’s happened this year
So yes, another player would have been helpful in hindsight but at what cost in the long term? ( and I don’t mean monetarily).
But you adapt Sue
So he / owners should have been thinking wow we are short of numbers so even a loan till end of season
A Morata now on loan would have made sense
Forget negative me
Non Gooners , pundits , media , were saying we need help . Our manager said we were short
I do have one little hope ?
Would this make him instead of playing a front three that we knew is not good enough , change systems and play to our strengths?
A loan was the obvious answer
The way Arteta was speaking, I got the impression that he was up against a brick wall and was making the best of it when putting on a public face
Get well soon Kai
Another good excuse to end the season without silverware
Well, when you have a single CF (who’s not a true CF btw) and have some 15 EPL games and some in Europe, and not hiring a back up sounds insane
To Mikel it seems that there is only Sesko in the entire world who doesn’t want to come and make a silly bid for Ollie.
Arteta is given too much control, his wings need to be clipped.
You may praise Arteta’s ingenuity, it doesn’t change things
Don’t worry made , I was told we have attack covered and didn’t need a striker
Gabriel and Calafiori are the best finishers left on the team now mate…..may as well put one of them up front….🤣 We are a shambles mate. Probably gonna fall outside the top 4. That’s gonna play really well when Madrid’s bid for Saliba comes in.
Bravo, well said.
@SueP,
I don’t have a crystal ball but I do have access to history, and history states Gabriel Jesus has missed chunks of every single season he’s played in the PL.
To go into the season with a player like THAT and a striker who hasn’t played as a striker until 5 years ago, is complete madness.
It seems like at Arsenal FC, they don’t check up on the injury record of the player.
I thought that Arsenal had made serious efforts to sign Sesko. But had Saka and Havertz previously had issues?
Sesko – Efforts? The guy does not want to come here, so you wait till he changes his mind? And let the season pass by?
Ollie – Why would Villa sell when their other stinker is moving on? Yet they hired a cover for Ollie.
Arteta knowing well that GJ is out, Kai is make shift did it not make sense to bid for Ollie at the start of the window?
Saka – the lad was playing with an injury since the Euros, and he was made to play every game, then why was Sterling hired?
Arteta’s men management makes no sense, with Forest 3 points below, Wenger’s Top Four Trophy is in serious trouble. But hey, this is phase 5, wait for phase 6 followed by 7,…..
I agree in terms of “go into the season” with our status.
But with the people saying we should have signed a high profile striker in Jan (whe we would have found one that’s available I don’t know), i disagree there.
What about the manager saying we are short up front idea ?
Loads of options
That we let Juventus beat us to Randall Kolo Muani loan is just malpractice. So is the idea that only Ben Sesko can be the one suitable striker on Earth last summer and then signing one defender amd another DM. Its laughable how poorly executed our transfer business is.
I disagree.
Including GJ, going into this season we had 6 senior forward players and a real academy prospect in Nwaneri. Ideally, we should have had an additional top level striker but it is by no means ridiculous to have started the season with the number of forward players we had.
However, it is reasonable to suggest that we should have strengthened during the window, perhaps with a loan.
SueP,
How perceptive you are, picking up on my Havertz negative vibe.😂
I suppose you perceptiveness will be picking up on my Arteta negative vibes next.😂😉👍
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣£280k/week…….2.5x what Newcastle is paying Isak……..good grief our front office is a shambles. We just hand out money like Halloween candy. You realize that between the money we paid for Havertz, then Merino to replace Xhaka at the 8, we could’ve bought Morgan Rogers, Youri Thielemans…….AND Alexander Isak?
Our 1st choice front three out Sue.
Jax still checking
Can Trossard, Sterling and Nwaneri win a title or CL?
Only positive is I put that bet on
Shame anyone who defends these owners
Lets be honest the way we have run this club we dont deserve top 4
nope. and we probably wont get it
It’s disastrous Jax
Time for Arteta and his staff to come up with a solution and pray that no other serious injuries occur
Yip, real problem now (as if it wasn’t before KH injury)…
Time for Nwaneri to play up front? Maybe Trossard?
From this point, we should take a top four finish
I think you are right, especially if Havertz is gone for a couple of months. If it turns out to be not as serious we should be okay for a CL spot.
I see now they are saying end of season for him. We are toast…
Need to look now at those out of contract
For sure
There are actually a few options
Obviously not perfect but Ben Yedder scored 20 goals for Monaco last season
Would the club get a free agent though or would they see that as admitting they made a mistake in January?
There was a list of a few and he seemed like the one most likely to offer some help. Don’t really know what is going on in the organization and who is making the calls – the other article outlined a bunch of things that might be the case, but it is largely speculation, as to why we were left so thin up front.
Regardless we are really in the lurch and keeping our top four looks like a big win right now. A lot of people don’t care for Havertz (I thought he was too expensive) but we need his contribution…
What a shame. Merino’s signing really seems to be haunting us (now having typed that, he will go on a goal a game run).
Ben Yedder is a recently convicted rapist and a drunk driver. Our club won’t be associated with a player like that.
More plausible is to look at our youth players, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Khayon Edwards or even U18 striker Andre Harriman-Annous. We have no other choice.
That’s a no then lol
Wissam Ben-Yedder…?
Clutching at straws but someone who can at least get us through some games with his experience.
(I think he’s still out of contract).
he seems to be the one…
as DaJuhi typed, there are significant issues and we already have one player on the field constantly booed for apparent bad behaviour…
Mate we have to bring in a body
It’s not ideal but you can’t play the same front three for the next month
Don’t you love how a club that didn’t want to just bring in another body is still paying Raheem Sterling like £160k/week to be a practice cone? Don’t do anything stupid like cancel his loan and bring in Evan Ferguson or Randall Kolo Muani.
Emcc, the only way Sterling could have his contract cancelled is if there is a clause in the loan agreement allowing that to happen.
Btw, he’s on just over £100k per week.
Whatever he’s earning, it’s good money thrown into the fireplace for sloppy seconds from chelsea. No matter how many times we put our hand on that hot stove and burn it, we keep taking their castoffs. If there wasn’t a cancellation clause in his loan, there should have been. Another ***t deal from our clown show of a front office.
Bad luck this season, but we also went in with a thin squad. The summer window was just so poor. Arsenal need to be okay with sometimes landing a 2nd target and not always your prime one. We should not have finished the window with only signing Sterling on a loan. Not good enough. I wouldn’t rush Saka back. Essentially we just need to secure top 4 and walk away. Another season down the drain. Will Arsenal finally get serious this summer? They should have Sesko and Zubimendi done in May/June. But as usual the club will drag these sagas out until late July/August and then do a mad scramble towards the end if things dont work out. This Ayto guy I’m not expecting much of anything from.
Of course Arteta has to take some of the blame for not bringing in an extra attacker in the summer, but the board hung him and the squad out to dry in January.
We were in an emergency situation, Arteta was begging in almost every interview, and he was ignored. We have now lost Martinelli, and Havertz for the mid and long-term since, leaving the squad barely on life support!
So now our attack for at least the next 4-6 weeks will be:
Trossard – a quality squad player
Nwaneri – an exceptional 17 year old
Sterling – a body
That means we cannot rest, or even sub any of them because we’ll have zero attacking options on the bench other than untested reserve and youth players. And that’s praying none of them get injured.
Let’s also not forget that Sterling’s performances have been so bad, that we really only have two attackers that can actually offer anything!
Forget the title, I think it’ll be a miracle if Arteta can get us a top four finish from this point on.
I have never witnessed such an injury crisis, and 3 red cards in the first half of games, and a fourth early in the second half, all decisive given the score in those games at the time the cards were issued.
Say what you want about Arteta, but you can only feel sorry for him at this point. How unlucky can you be?
Lucy78 – my sympathy depends on how much control he (Arteta) has actually had. If he was the architect and the board finally said enough then I have little sympathy.
On the other end, if he had no say in recruitment and retention than full sympathy and my greatest respect.
I suspect that the answer, as always, lies somewhere in the middle.
As for the injuries, I agree but with such a small squad we have been asking for this for a couple of years. We have too many positions where there seems to be only one option in the manager’s mind and our players have to play too many games.
I also wonder about training intensity. Read a story about how Slot has really changed tempo of training downwards at Liverpool during the season. I wonder if there is something in that?
Regardless, I am really gutted.
Not bad luck , it’s neglect
The price of standing still and messing around with PR stunts like the Watkins ‘ bid ‘
He needs to change the formation now and go defensive
Damage limitation
Better to try and steal 1-0 wins then play a front three for sake of it
We have been trying to win 1-0 all year………..now what?
Not saying it’s ideal
I just think we play to our strengths
No point playing three up front for sake of it if they are not good enough
I think a Zichvenko/ Tierney bombing down left and white or Timber on right is oddly more creative then Sterling , Trossard and Nwaneri as a 3
I know bro and I agree with you. What a clown show we have made of the last two windows. It’s going to cost us the title. Tbh, we are going to be scrapping for 6th. Then we wont be able to sign our top targets because we don’t offer Champions League football….and the whole charade will start again. Saliba is out the door too.
Yea I feel really sorry for a bloke who earns 16 million a year barking orders on a touchline .
🙄
All this talk about how good it was for the players going on a warm weather break,like some said it was just a jolly for going out of the fa cup early once again .
Now we have lost another player for the season by being on holiday ,couldn’t make it up .
So with all the equivalent injuries and the red cards to Liverpool. Where do you think Liverpool would currently be in the table?
That should shut you up!
Shut him up?
The man is the second highest paid manager in world football while delivering zilch.
We have more than five hundred and forty two left backs.
That’s definitely on him.
…or Edu!!!
Jax,
The club goes for the player’s that Arteta asks for. That’s on him, not the director of football.
Stop making excuse’s for Arteta. Accountability remember. 🙄🤦♂️
“The club”, meaning the Director of Sport. Who do you think negotiates the deals for players that Arteta asks for?
Right now it’s a stand in who has next to no experience in this area. Arteta may have some input, but it’s not his job.
I agree with Jax
Arteta asked for help
End of day he’s just an employee
If a company fails it’s the owners responsibility
Thank you Dan, it’s good to be on the same page.
It’s no longer WengerWorld where one person has complete control. Arteta is Team Manager. He doesn’t even coach any more. Sure he lets the club know which players he wants and approves the ones selected. But he manages the team, that’s all.
Slight correction…Director of Football😉.
Jax,
I know it’s the director of footballs job to negotiate the deals.
But it still doesn’t absolve Arteta for the bad decisions in the transfer windows. And certainly not for ignoring the need for a striker for the past three seasons.
And Dan, yes Arteta asked for help in the January transfer window. And I’ve read your posts where you say that the club must be happy with him, because they gave him a new contract.
Well what I’m about to say may make you and some others laugh. But I say before you do, just think on what I’ve said.
Is it not possible that the club didn’t back Arteta in January, and are waiting to the end of the season to see what we achieve. And if there’s no silverware, then they may make the decision to sack Arteta.
Now I know that it would cost the club a big payoff to do this, but as I said you may and other’s may laugh, but this club under these owners do make some strange decisions.
Giving Arteta a new 5 year contract to begin with, proving my point. 😉👍
Lucy, Liverpool hap as many injuries as is first 10 games and left us in smoke and with a new manager. Not a very plausible excuse.
Shut me up !
Good one Lucy 😂
As for Liverpool that’s just opinion,we don’t and will never know where they would be or where we could be with or without injuries.
Just an excuses along with the red cards .
First, they did have key injuries. But hey lets just ignore their injuries. When we had 8 players out, so did they. They found a way, we didn’t.
Its bad luck but basically it’s just down to bad squad management.
We began the season with 22 senior players, 22! MLS and Nwaneri joined later as youth products.
Of those 22, we had loaned 2 from other PL clubs. That’s right, a club of Arsenals stature had to LOAN 2 squad players from other clubs.
Out of those 20 (excluding loans), we had at least 5 players with an EXTENSIVE injury record in the past which spans not just one season but several.
Those players are Jesus, Tierney, Partey, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko. Unsurprising is that 4 of those perennially injured players, have got injured several times this season.
So that leaves us with 15 trustworthy senior players. These 15 players include just 1 striker (who is not a natural striker), 3 wingers, 1 attacking midfielder.
One can argue that Saka’s longterm injury was forthcoming. He’s had multiple mild hamstring pulls in the past seasons and he has been rested very little.
Another case of argument is that this is Kai Havertz’s most serious injury of his career. Is it just coincedence that we basically have 1 fit striker all season who has to play almost all the matches and poof, he gets in injury?
In conclusion, injuries happen but they can be avoided and MA’s squad management has been hilariously ABYSMAL.
Fair comment RSH
Putting right what wasn’t a great summer window is too late now. Was it a gamble not to go further in the summer? Looking that way now
Complete mismanagement by whoever decided we didn’t need to bring in a forward in January. Whatever we think about Havertz as a striker, he has worked his socks off this season, it should not be a surprise he has picked up an injury. Now the sky is falling and we are in crisis. Unbelievable but then again, typical.
So, we are missing our only striker, who wasn’t a striker and wasn’t scoring? Just another excuse people can use why we are not winning anything this year for Arteta apologists. Well no not really, Arteta didn’t want to sign a striker on loan (and we were offered a few) because he would be working long term with him. Well how short sighted to not see, that, if we lost our only striker, who wasn’t a striker, we could actually have a player, who could have played as a STRIKER. Arteta has gone 4 years without a striker, so I don’t see that as a problem for him. What a shit show season and poor poor planning for it.
Would not be working long term.
I didn’t believe we could be this unlucky I was expecting to hear today that it was only a scare and he’d be ready in time for the next game or two This is devastating I am now worried about our top four hopes
We will be fine with Sterling leading the line. He is more clinical than Havertz. Will need to promote from the academy until Saka and Martineli come back in 3-4 weeks time. We must start by hammering Leicester to send a clear message that we are still a dangerous team even without Kai
Whose great idea was going to Dubai?
Even going to California or staying in London is a side issue. The real question to be asked is why is multitude of players getting hamstring injuries . Obviously there are being over used for lack of depth
Reggie ,if we hadn’t lost to a 10 man sh1tty Man Utd team we wouldn’t even be having this discussion .
That is a fact.
At this moment I will not blame the board. My assumption is that the board would have given Arteta timelines and target to achieve. As a business money cant be thrown willy nilly there must be something to answer back on and so far Arteta has failed. He had the option to recall Vieira and he didn’t take that option. For sure the world is full of players who could have done a job for us on loan if the bigger picture is to get their prime target in the summer. Which ever way you look at it Arteta is the one to blame as he is the one who sanctions most transfer business. He might be fired during the summer if he fails to achieve something tangible.
Sad news which probably ends any slight chance of running Liverpool close and any prospect of winning the Champions League.Faced with a problem of his own making, it will be interesting to see Artetas reaction to the latest blow and in practical terms what he does to alleviate the injury to the much maligned Havertz.As far as I can see there are 3 options open to him and his Management team.a) recall forwards who are currently out on loan b) sign a player who is currently “free” and c) change our tactics to a 3-5-2 set up which would get us through until Martinelli and Saka are fit. With regard to the first option I think Nelson is currently unfit and I do not see any benefit in recalling Vieira .With regard to free agents the only guy I might contemplate is Kemar Roofe who I have seen on numerous occasions when he played with Rangers.He is not a bad player at all and at 32, he should still be fit.With regard to a change in our tactical set up, with the return of White and Tierney match fit ,I think this might be out best option, but sadky, I don’t think our Manager has the imagination to change the system he learned from his time as an apprentice at Man City.Interesting times ahead for sure .
The first 10 games, we managed the situation really poorly. We lost the league in those first 10. We now have a crippling injury crisis that after not loaning a striker, we are left up the creek without a paddle. Our non striker striker is crippled. Can we find another non striker, striker in our squad. I presume our manager thought so. It will be interesting to see what he does. My guess is, nothing ground breaking. It is only a striker we are missing but arguably we have for 4 years. Poor management all round.
Fail to plan, fail to succeed. Don’t care if it is the board, Arteta, or whomever is at fault. The result is the same; underwhelming Summer Window, with enough LB and DM’s to almost have a B team.
Completely self-inflicted in my opinion, and how a “big” club in a title chase finds itself in this position would be comical if it wasn’t the Arsenal I love.
I do not sympathize with the situation Arsenal is in.
When they had the money to strengthen the squad, they went for Midfielders (Rice and Havertz and later Merino) who don’t have much to write home about, in terms of talent. In the meantime, Jesus was loudly saying he is not a striker the club can rely on, even when was still at City. But, the carry-overs by Arteta had to join, even the toothless Sterling!
Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the plot is thickening. I see another trophy-less season, with some still applauding that the club is not so badly off as some are making it.
But Hey Arteta is doing a grand job.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I understand the concerns, but Arteta has been the one who got us to this competitive level. We’ve consistently been one of the top teams in Europe for past few seasons and even with injuries, we’re still 2nd. Our players have been playing a lot of games for the past few seasons, so its no surprise we’re dealing with fatigue and injuries.
we should be supporting Arteta. I truly believe we’re on the right path. Finishing at least 2nd this season would be a great achievement given the current circumstances. This season is a test of resilience, and it’s time to show unwavering support for Arteta and the squad. The board needs to support him in the transfer market, as we definitely lack squad depth. I hope they sign 3-4 players this summer, and that all of them stay fit.
UNPOPULAR OPINION
The common belief among many Arsenal fans that the Kroenkes have not backed Arteta and Edu financially can no longer hold weight for me, especially when we have broken both our own and the EPL transfer records within the last couple of seasons. Mikel Arteta, Edu, or whoever was responsible for transfers at Arsenal over the last three seasons is to blame for the current crisis we have. The problem is we have recruited poorly and failed to pursue our priority. While significant investments have been made, the squad remains unbalanced year after year, and critical areas have been recklessly neglected. First of all, we are stacked with left-backs, and defensive midfielders, while we blatantly ignore the need for a creative midfielder, a winger, and a prolific number 9 to score loads of important goals, not the fourth goal in a game in which we score 5 goals. Haaland scores goals that give Man City crucial points, the same with Salah for Liverpool.
Odegard is the primary orchestra in our midfield. His absence due to injury at the beginning of the season exposed our lack of alternative creative outlets. Now the question is has our summer transfer window improved the squad this season? For me, the answer is NO! Calafiori and Merino may be good players, but the squad had more pressing priorities. Our summer recruitments should have strengthened the forward line, especially having let go of Nketiah, Smith Rowe, Nelson, and Fabio Viera. The latter over £30m was spent as an alternative to Odegard but failed to justify that hefty price tag.
Meanwhile, Arteta needs at least two signings before he finally gets one position right. Sadly, we don’t have the luxury of unlimited resources like Man City. He bought Havertz purposely to play as a left-sided midfielder (Xhaka’s replacement). The Havertz-midfield experiment became a failure but Arteta made accommodations for him in the first eleven because of the huge transfer fee and weekly wage bonanza. To be fair to Havertz, he showed some improvement during the second half of the season, but he ultimately lacks the cutting edge needed to win us the EPL. Partey, despite all his injuries, has been our best midfielder by far when fully fit. Rice was bought for a whooping £105m to replace Partey. Despite all the hype around him, he lacks what a fully fit Partey brings to that position. Arteta splashed out a huge sum again on another left-sided midfield experiment with Merino. Up to this moment, he is nothing spectacular but just another squad player. Rice continues to occupy the left-sided midfield for most of the season so far. This means that after a season and a half, Arteta does not seem to be sure of the best position for our most expensive signing ever. We have an endless list of left-backs (Tavares, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Calafiori, not to mention Timber who played there severally, and Tierney who’s frozen out). Ironically, MLS from our reserves, gets the chance and is proving to be a gem.
Goalkeeping is certainly not an exception, over 5 goalkeepers were bought by Arteta. For me, I believe the Ramsdale-Raya situation has been a case of marginal upgrade rather than a game-changing one. Was a marginal upgrade in goal-keeping more important than the critical upgrade in our number 9 position? With Ramsdale we lost the league by 5 points and with Raya we lost by 2 points. The improvement in goal did not compensate for our lack of firepower. Despite Ramsdale’s flaws, he was still a developing young goalkeeper with tremendous potential to improve. Therefore, in my opinion, instead of prioritizing a new goalkeeper, the resources should have been channeled towards getting an elite finisher — something we desperately needed. Aston Villa (home and away) West Ham (home) Newcastle (away) Fulham (away), just to name a few, were all games we dominated but ended up not taking a single point. A clinical striker could have turned key draws and losses into wins—potentially making the difference in the title race.
The Kronkies have put enough in to win trophies. If we don’t, theyare NOT to blame.
Are these players taking the correct pre & post-match warm-ups and downs?
None that I can think of (apart from Ødegaard on international duty, & Merino in training), were fouls. All are strains, pulls & ACLs.
Does our fitness coach have something to answer for?
No panicking, the squad is okay.
Defense and midfield is okay.
What this means is that Sterling starts on the left hand side, Nwaneri on the right and Trossard through the middle.
It is just little tactics to manage and wait for players to come back from injury and support.
They must start games quickly and finish the game in the first half. Extra midfielders and defenders introduced to rest the front 3. The only other thing is that Trossard should focus on positioning and finishing off chances. No asking him to track back and work his socks off like Kai.
There shouldn’t be much drop in quality, they should still be able to win matches that we are expected to win, the only catch is that there is no help coming from the bench.