“You don’t know where he is, that’s his football brain” - Mikel Arteta says Arsenal star has ‘changed’ after win over Southampton 

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta heaped praise on Kai Havertz following his side’s 3-1 victory over Southampton on Saturday (September 5). Arteta was in awe of Havertz’s unpredictability on the pitch and claimed that he is a brainiac.

Arsenal came from behind to maintain their unbeaten record against newly-promoted Southampton at the Emirates Stadium. After the first 45 minutes, which saw the Gunners dominate every aspect of the game, it was the visitors who opened the scoring first as Fernandes pinched the ball off Raheem Sterling in midfield before releasing first-half substitute Cameron Archer, who curled beautifully into the bottom on the 55th minute.

Their lead, however, didn’t last long, as a typical Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz link-up saw the Gunners restore parity three minutes later, with the latter scoring his seventh successive home goal.

Saka was the architect once again for the second Gunners goal as his wonderful cross into the Southampton box found Garbriel Martinelli unmarked, who tapped home to turn the game around. Two minutes from time, the England forward got himself on the scoresheet to put the game to bed after Southampton’s defenders ended up losing possession.

After the match, Arteta said he was impressed with his players performance in the game. After gushing over Saka’s incredible performance, the Spanish manager went on to lavish praise on Havertz. He said (via Mirror);

“He takes the ball, runs with the ball, he’s on high press, he goes full gas, the way he holds the ball up, the position he takes in the box," Arteta beamed. "He’s an attacking midfielder, he plays as a 9, you don’t know where he is. That’s his football brain. His focus now is ‘I’m going to win the game, I’m going to do it’ and that’s a different thing.

“He is [brimming with confidence]. He’s practising and he wants more. There is still another level from him. He’s surrounded by incredible players. Something has changed in him – that confidence, you really sense it and now he’s putting it into games and he’s winning football matches.”

It is worth noting that Kai Havertz had the second highest rating in the Arsenal squad that faced Southampton. He has a rating of 7.9 as per Sofascore, which is only behind Saka’s 9.9.

Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus and Raheem after Arsenal's 3-1 win over Southampton

Apart from Saka and Havertz, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also gave his assessment of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling’s performances. Both players were included in the starting XI against the Saints. Arteta told the club’s website.

‘’I was really happy. We made the changes, we had to make them and everybody deserves to play. In the first half it could have been very different to the result we had at half-time. After that we decided to change because the energy had to be changed and we brought on three players that have the ability to do that and they really helped. I’m really pleased with everybody.