Havertz injury puts Arsenal in an uncomfortable spot

As Mikel Arteta returned from Dubai, after a trip that was supposed to rejuvenate his squad, the Arsenal manager was poring over various ideas to navigate a proper injury crisis.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

Arteta's staff are big on the maths of the pitch, and often run tactics through algorithms. Right now, only a few simple sums matter.

Arsenal did not sign a forward in January. That left an already shallow range of attacking options at risk from injury. Now, the worst has happened. Kai Havertz’s hamstring injury means three first-choice attackers are out. After consultations with Arsenal’s medical team, the German is set for surgery and will then begin a period of rehabilitation which will extend to the middle of the summer at least.

They only have three forwards available for the next few games, and one is the budding 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who has little experience. Moments like these are where you get that experience but, although there are vintage examples of youngsters seizing this sort of opportunity in the past, it’s an unreasonable amount of responsibility. From that history, it has occasionally been said that title races ultimately turn on individual moments, those that carry the weight of a season’s accumulation of events.

Such statements are usually intended to mean decisive goals on the pitch. As regards Arsenal’s challenge to Liverpool, however, this might be it. That the Havertz news leaked on the day of the leaders’ crucial derby trip to Everton only added depth to it. Given these attacking options, Arsenal may need to be more concerned with those underneath them and the Champions League places.

It also poses a huge depth of questions for Arteta and his club. The manager himself spoke of the need to keep everyone fit before the Carabao Cup match at Newcastle United. This will feel worse than that elimination.