Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker have defended an Arsenal player after he came under some serious criticism on Saturday.
The Gunners picked up a comfortable 3-0 against Bournemouth at the Emirates this weekend.
Goals from Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice sealed a comfortable win for the North Londoners, who remain on top of the Premier League table.
Manchester City, however, are still the favourites to win the title because they have a game in hand over Mikel Arteta‘s side.
There was a lot of debate over one thing that happened in the game on Saturday. Lineker and Shearer have now delivered their verdict.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer in agreement over Kai Havertz penalty incident
Arsenal star Kai Havertz has been in the news a lot over the last two days.
The Germany international has become a hugely important player for Arsenal this year. His performances as a centre-forward have been outstanding in the last few months.
Against Bournemouth on Saturday, Havertz produced another brilliant performance.
The former Chelsea man caused the Cherries all sorts of problems with his movement and physicality, and he was among the best players on the pitch at the Emirates.
However, one incident put Havertz in the spotlight.
The Arsenal man won a penalty after being brought down by Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers inside the box. The referee was convinced he was fouled.
However, many people have had a real go at Havertz and have even accused him of simulation. Jamie O’Hara raged at the German for the way he initiated the contact and went down.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer had their say on the incident, and both of them are adamant that it was a penalty. They accused Travers of making a ‘stupid’ challenge and claimed Havertz had every right to go down after making contact.
Lineker said on the Rest is Football podcast: “That was a penalty. If you look at it in normal speed, the keeper comes out rashly, misses the ball completely, why should the centre-forward leap out of the way of him?”
Shearer then claimed: “The keeper is stupid enough to come out like that, then you’re inviting contact. The forward doesn’t have to jump over him. Gary is absolutely right. Why should he have to jump over him?
“He can leave his foot there and make contact. I thought it was a stupid challenge from the goalkeeper.”
READ MORE: Martin Keown directly tells Kai Havertz one thing he keeps doing has shocked him
Kai Havertz’s stats vs Bournemouth are extraordinary
A number of Arsenal players produced brilliant performances against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Declan Rice was named the Player of the Match after the game for his goal and an assist, and an argument can be made that he deserves it.
However, Kai Havertz couldn’t have been far off.
In his 90 minutes on the pitch, Havertz had 55 touches of the ball and registered three key passes. He made four tackles as well and won eight of his nine attempted ground duels.
SofaScore gave Havertz an 8.6/10 rating for his performance on Saturday – more than any other player who played the game.
To get such a high rating as a striker in a game in which you haven’t scored or assisted is just extraordinary and shows just how brilliant Havertz was at the weekend.