Arsenal saw off Tottenham in the end this weekend to maintain their title push and Garth Crooks has plumped for a number of Gunners in his latest team of the week.
Arsenal’s top men turned up in the opening 45 minutes as Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz both scored and Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice produced from set-pieces.
The worry all season for Arsenal fans has been that they might run out of steam like last season.
But there seems to be little sign of that right now and after watching Arsenal do the business at Tottenham, pundit Garth Crooks opted with three players from Mikel Arteta’s side in his latest team of the week.
Interestingly, Crooks has selected German forward Kai Havertz. But despite his selection, Crooks believes he still has plenty of doubts over the striker.
Kai Havertz doubts remain despite team of the week inclusion
Picking his team of the week for the BBC, Crooks has admitted he’s never been a fan of Havertz and still really isn’t.
“I cannot say I am a fan of Kai Havertz. I was not when he played for Chelsea and I am not now he plays for Arsenal,” Crooks writes.
“I must however accept that the German looks a different player for the Gunners than he was at Stamford Bridge. I was shocked the player who clearly struggled at Chelsea still commanded a fee of £60m and I could not understand why Arsenal bought him. He has taken a while to acclimatise to the way the Gunners like to play but has put his experience and obvious ability to excellent use under Mikel Arteta. At no time this season has the player looked uncomfortable or out of his depth and I would not have said that when he was playing for Chelsea.
“Havertz proved to be a handful against Spurs and once again showed just how technically competent he is as a player.”
Proving everyone wrong and producing when it matters
One of the big points some fans about Havertz when he signed was that he’d done it in big moments and produced when it mattered.
His goal for Chelsea in the Champions League final is the shining example of that but up until recently, Arsenal fans hadn’t seen much of that for their own club.
However, you simply cannot question Havertz’s impact now on this season.
He was huge against Chelsea in midweek and against Spurs yesterday, caused a whole load of problems for the home side’s defence.
He is rightly included by Crooks here, who at some point, will surely have to change his opinion completely and buy into the fact that Kai Havertz is just a very good footballer.
The post 'A different player': BBC pundit says 24-year-old Arsenal player has proven him completely wrong now appeared first on TBR Football.