Kai Havertz has come in for some criticism following Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, despite the fact he was clearly one of the team’s best performers.
Arsenal suffered a disappointing and potentially damaging 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, putting Pep Guardiola’s side just three points behind the Premier League leaders with a game in hand to close that gap to nothing.
Though City’s goal difference is one goal worse than Arsenal’s, they would make that up with a win, and they then have the superior goals scored tally. Even a 1-0 win away to struggling Burnley on Wednesday would send City top.
In effect, it feels as though City have taken control in the title race, despite the fact that Arsenal are technically still top.
It’s little surprise that’s led to dismay in the Arsenal fanbase, and perhaps a desire to find a scapegoat. Given Kai Havertz saw a couple of big chances go begging on Sunday afternoon, he’s found himself in the firing line in some circles.
Yet to blame Havertz for the defeat is completely ridiculous. The German international worked tirelessly to get Arsenal up the pitch, and to maintain a high press – leading to the team’s only goal.
Without meaning any offence to Viktor Gyokeres, the difference in all-around performance between the Swedish striker’s centre-forward display in the League Cup final and Havertz’s at the Etihad was night and day. Arsenal always had a dangerous out ball, City could never relax.
Havertz missed chances, but he also scored, and the statistics suggest his finishing wasn’t a net negative.
Havertz’s individual expected goals tally was 1.25, but he turned that into an expected goals on target of 1.32, meaning he added value with his finishes. Gianluigi Donnarumma and the City defence just made some good stops.
Football fans consistently overrate how likely players are to score based on their own emotional reactions, but the stats don’t lie.
At the other end of the pitch, Erling Haaland had the same number of shots as Havertz (five), and scored the same number of goals (one). Like Havertz, he missed multiple “big chances”. But because he was on the winning side, that’s seen as a good output and a performance worthy of praise.
Sometimes things just don’t go your team’s way. Sometimes an Eze shot hits the post and flies across the face of goal, a Gabriel header deflects off an opponent onto the post instead of into the net, a Havertz shot is well saved and the rebound doesn’t quite fall kindly enough for Martinelli.
It’s no one’s fault, it’s just football. To blame Havertz after his individual performance seems incredibly harsh.
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