A little love …

Morning.

Welcome to a brand new week and welcome to another Interlull. Yes, another one. Ahead of our game against Southampton on Saturday, Mikel Arteta was asked for his thoughts on his players going away to play for their countries, and said:

I prefer not to watch the games! I pray that everybody is going to be fine, because the last one was a really difficult one to handle in many ways.

I’m not a praying man, I’ll leave that to Arteta, but there’s already an issue in that Kai Havertz has withdrawn from the Germany squad for their games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands with a knee injury. Right now, there’s no information about how serious it is, or isn’t. The optimistic side of me hopes it’s just a small niggle, and after losing Martin Odegaard in the last break, common sense has been applied and he’ll use the next couple of weeks to recover. You can’t help but worry though, because this season has already thrown up some challenges, and part of me expects to hear that it’s an ex-knee, it’s no more, it’s kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil etc etc.

We will await further updates on Kai, and I will keep everything crossed it’s not serious, because his importance to this team right now is just so obvious. It’s quite funny to think that after 7 games last season, he had just scored his first Premier League goal for Arsenal – that penalty against Bournemouth. I went back to have a look at what I wrote after that game:

“A penalty against Bournemouth at 2-0 isn’t quite like the final one in a world cup final or anything, but it was a big moment for him. And he delivered, tucking the spot kick away very well. He did score one in the Community Shield too, and both penalties he’s put away have been done so with a conviction that is perhaps missing from other aspects of his play. You could see how much it meant to him, and to his teammates.

There’s still plenty to do, but this felt very much like a step in the right direction.”

Look at the finish for the equaliser on Saturday. The first word that came to my mind was conviction. A year ago he would have overthought that chance; on Saturday a Kai Havertz full of confidence and belief just instinctively just twatted it beyond Aaron Ramsdale and in. Confidence is the great intangible in football. You know when someone has it in spades, you know when someone is missing it, and right now Havertz is full of it.

Arteta said beforehand he’s a player who needs love:

He’s a player that needs a lot of love. He needs to feel protected, he needs to feel chemistry around him. In football and in life he gives so much to everybody. He needs that connection.

It’s really interesting to consider that despite intense scrutiny of his move from Chelsea, doubts about the fee and where he might fit into the team, Havertz has had that love almost from the start. It was clear he got it from his teammates when they handed him that penalty, and while it might have been dismissed by some at the time as a kind of charity gesture, it was clearly much more important than that. When he scored it, the away fans started singing his song, there were great clips of them dancing around and showing their support for him, and I really think those were the seeds for the progression we can see just a year down the line.

And as we enjoy the benefits of how Havertz has been supported, I wonder too if there’s another player in the squad who could use a little bit of that right now. When we talk about confidence, it’s clear that Gabriel Jesus in the doldrums, and it’s difficult not to worry about his form. He hasn’t scored since January, and almost everything he does feels a bit forced, like he’s trying too hard. I’ve spoken about his decision making and how he seems to choose the difficult option too often. It is frustrating to see him struggle because we know he’s capable of more.

Like I said, I’m worried, but perhaps there were a couple of signs on Saturday that might give you just a little hope. There was a brilliant take and shimmy which was stopped by a cynical shirt-pull, and when he did move the ball quickly through midfield, there was a chance for Raheem Sterling which was stopped by some solid Southampton defending. It’s not a lot, but maybe it’s a step in the right direction.

I’ve already seen people talk about the January window, but the reality is that we have 17 games to play between now and then, and if Jesus can find some form then we have a better chance of success than we do otherwise. Ultimately it’s down to him, he has to deliver when he gets chances and on Saturday he couldn’t. In the long-term, I think his future at Arsenal has a major question mark over it, but hopefully he still has something to offer this season. He needs a goal to lift the burden, and maybe he too just needs a little love when that happens to reignite his spark.

Right, I’ll leave it there for now. There’s an Arsecast Extra from yesterday below, and if you fancy something extra, we’ll be reviewing all the weekend’s Premier League action in The 30 over on Patreon. Given the funny result for Brighton yesterday, it should be a fun one.

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