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‘He was superb’: Mikel Arteta heaps praise on Kai Havertz

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was delighted with the debut performance of Kai Havertz against Manchester City in the Community Shield.

The Germany international had a good pre-season tour of the United States where he scored twice playing from the central midfield role.

Against the Cityzens, Havertz was chosen to lead the line ahead of Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard, and he was able to impress the manager.

Havertz almost found the back of the net on two occasions in the opening half while he was also impressive with his hold-up and link-up play.

Speaking after the victory on penalties, Arteta acknowledged that Havertz was superb with his pressing and intelligent movement in the final third.

The Spanish tactician added that he got into great positions to score and was unlucky to not find the net. He was ‘very pleased’ with the 24-year-old.

He told Arsenal.com: “Yes I think so. He was superb, the way he pressed and how intelligent he is to try and understand certain spaces and the timing of it, he was great and got in great positions to score. He was unlucky not to score but he was very physical when he needed to be, so I was very pleased with him.”

Havertz played from the number eight role throughout pre-season, and it came as a surprise when he was chosen to lead the attack against the Cityzens.

However, the German was able to put in a good debut. He was guilty of missing two solid scoring chances, but still produced a credible performance.

The former Chelsea star completed 15 out of his 16 passes and was dispossessed on just three occasions. He won two duels and made one excellent tackle.

The Gunners’ faithful at the Wembley Stadium were appreciative over Havertz’s showing, and the onus is now on him to make goal contributions for the club.

Havertz could be the club’s main man up front for the next few weeks with Gabriel Jesus injured.

Stats from Sofascore.com

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