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Gary Neville has a ‘big question’ to ask after Kai Havertz’s hamstring injury at Arsenal
Arsenal staff and fans are probably still coming to terms with the fact that they will be without Kai Havertz for the remainder of the season.
Havertz injured his hamstring in a high-pressing training drill and will not feature again for Arsenal in the Premier League run-in, or in their quest to win the Champions League.
Of course, Gabriel Jesus’ season has also been cut short owing to a serious knee injury – Mikel Arteta’s side aren’t getting any luck right now.
But as the saying goes: ‘you make your own luck’, and Arsenal’s decision not to buy a striker in January now looks more baffling by the day.
Arsenal were offered three strikers last month and passed up on all of them, even when Havertz looked exhausted.
Gary Neville says it’s unusual for Kai Havertz to be injured in training
That considered, Gary Neville had some thoughts to share on the back of hearing about Havertz’s injury when speaking on the ‘Stick to Football’ podcast.
Neville said that ‘big questions’ will be being asked at Arsenal right now given the nature of the injury, one you don’t often hear about in training.
Speaking alongside Roy Keane, Neville said it might be put down as a ‘fluke’ but suggested that an inquest was needed.
Neville said: “They would be asking big questions, the medical, sports science, at Arteta over in Dubai, that they’ve done something over there.
“I know it can happen, freaks can happen, but you don’t hear of many injuries like that anymore where players sort of are out for season through an injury in training.
“They’re normally happening in games. They’ll be asking serious questions, I’m sure. I mean, they might say it’s a fluke.”
Keane added: “And sometimes they give out a bit of false information. You’re saying he’s out for the season. A lot of the big clubs have said players are out for three or four months.
“Then four or five, six weeks later, oh yeah, he’s kind of [back].”
Mikel Arteta might have a surprise Kai Havertz replacement
With Havertz out, it seems most likely that Leandro Trossard will come in as a false nine, a role he has often played before and one he fulfilled away to Girona in the Champions League recently.
However, Arteta might use a defender as a striker when needed, a remarkable turn of events.
Usually, fans in north London would be celebrating Liverpool dropping two points late on in the Merseyside derby.
However, it must be becoming more and more difficult for Arsenal fans to believe that they have any realistic prospect of winning the league.
All in all, it’s a terrible situation for the Gunners, whose gamble on Havertz’s fitness has already backfired.