Arsenal’s first league defeat exposes Havertz, attacking depth

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, England — As Arsenal attempted to preserve their unbeaten Premier League run in the latter stages of their 1-0 defeat at Newcastle, Mikel Arteta replaced backup striker Eddie Nketiah with winger Leandro Trossard. If ever a substitution highlighted a team’s predicament, this was it.

The £65m summer signing of Kai Havertz from Chelsea now looks like a vanity purchase from Arteta who overlooked his team’s real problem – the lack of a reliable goalscorer – in favor of a undeniably talented player, but who It is rather a luxury in a team which already possesses all the attributes of a title champion team. While that money could have been better spent on a proven centre-forward to compete with Gabriel Jesus and Nketiah, Arteta instead opted to recruit Havertz as a player who “sees the whole pitch”. What Arsenal really needed was a player who could see the goal and put the ball there.

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So, with Jesus out due to injury at St James’ Park and Nketiah struggling to make progress against Newcastle’s central duo of Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schär, Arteta turned to former Brighton winger Trossard to save the match as a substitute in the 80th minute. Havertz, meanwhile, remained on the pitch in his role as neither striker nor midfielder, always backed by Arteta to turn things around as he had intended when he lured him to the Emirates.

But he didn’t change the situation. Havertz now has one goal in 11 league appearances for Arsenal this season and his presence in the team is causing anxiety among supporters. He proved to be an important player at Chelsea, scoring the goals that won the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup, but he has so far been a fish out of water at Arsenal and Arteta’s decision to sign him already deserves scrutiny.

Arsenal are still firmly in the title race despite that defeat at St James’s, with the Gunners just three points behind leaders Manchester City, but last season’s runners-up were a concern against Eddie Howe’s side.

They have been consistently linked with the January move of Brentford striker Ivan Toney, whose eight-month ban for breaching betting rules will end on January 16, but after investing much of the club’s transfer funds on Havertz over the summer, Arsenal will have to raise funds before even considering a move for Toney, who is also of interest to Chelsea and Manchester United.

Without an influx of money, Arsenal will not be able to sign Toney due to Financial Fair Play restrictions, so Arteta’s decision to sign Havertz could further deprive the Gunners of the opportunity to strengthen the area which has so badly need reinforcement. Arsenal still have goals in the team with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all hitting double figures last season. All three dominated Jesus, who scored 11 league goals.

But none of them have scored 20 league goals and that is often the bare minimum required for a title-winning club’s top scorer. Just look at how many goals Erling Haaland scored for City last season – 36 – and how Mohamed Salah broke the 20-goal mark for Liverpool in four of his six seasons at Anfield.

With Jesus injured, Arteta must rely on Nketiah as a centre-forward, but the 24-year-old is not good enough to be the main striker for a title contender. He’s a good option to have in the team, but he’s nowhere near the level required. Had Arsenal arrived at Newcastle with a striker such as Toney in their ranks, or Newcastle’s Callum Wilson, his presence would have allowed Saka and Martinelli more freedom and space to cause problems out wide.

But instead they had Havertz whose only contribution was to rouse the Newcastle crowd with a wild first-half challenge on Sean Longstaff which resulted in a yellow card but could have merited a red. Arsenal managed just one shot on target and that statistic highlighted their lack of punch up front.

But while it is an area Arteta has neglected, his decision to replace goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with David Raya, on a season-long loan from Brentford, also threatens to hamper Arsenal’s title fight. Raya’s ability as a sweeper is considered by Arteta to be so superior to that of Ramsdale that he made the switch, but Raya has yet to adapt to his new role as the Gunners’ number one and his inability to make a better attempt at The handling of the cross which led to Gordon’s goal was a failure which the manager did not address by criticizing the VAR decisions.

So while Arteta was angry with officials, calling the decision “embarrassing” and an “absolute disgrace”, he diverted attention from his own failings. And by failing to sign a striker over the summer, Arteta has arguably damaged his team’s prospects more than any controversial VAR decision.