“He got in great areas and the ball didn’t arrive” – Arteta defends Havertz despite replacing him early during Arsenal draw with Fulham

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defended Kai Havertz despite of taking the German off in the 55th minute in their Premier League game against Fulham on Saturday. The 24-year-old missed a glorious chance in the first half as the Gunners conceded a late goal against 10-man Fulham to draw 2-2.

The Spaniard said:

“I saw an action when he played backwards and he could have turned.

“That’s more I think the demands of everybody to play forward and to impact the game in the final third because we had the urgency to win.

“I think he’s done already really good things. Today it was tough in certain moments. He got in great areas and the ball didn’t arrive.

“In a lot of situations, he should have scored a lot of goals already this season. That’s the thing that is missing there.”

Havertz has endured a rough start to his Arsenal career after completing a £65 million move from cross-town rivals Chelsea. The 24-year-old had another tough outing on Saturday, struggling alongside the other Gunners attackers in the first half. Jeers and boos aimed at the German could be heard as he was taken off early in the second half.

Havertz's replacement Fabio Vieira had a much more positive impact on the game. With the Gunners down 1-0, the Portuguese attacker won a penalty, which Bukayo Saka converted to equalise. Minutes later, he provided the assist for Eddie Nketiah with a great cross as the Gunners went ahead. However, the north Londoners ended up conceding a goal off a corner to Joao Palhinha as the Cottagers levelled it late to win a point.

Arteta shuts down comparisons to last season after Arsenal draw with Fulham

Arteta insisted that the Gunners have improved from last season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has claimed that his side's performances have improved from last season. When a question was posed comparing the Gunners' performances against Fulham last season, Arteta was defiant in his belief that his team have grown better.

He said:

“If I compare the game we played against Fulham this season and last season, we were 10 times better this season. At least 10.

“We made the most difficult thing, go 2-1 up. Then you have to defend the box with your life, you cannot concede a goal after everything we did. We should have scored five, six, seven, I don’t know [how many].

“Errors are part of football, it’s where you make them and how the opponent takes them that makes the difference.

“We had a big one against Fulham last year where we just gave a goal to Mitrovic as well. It’s part of football.”

The Gunners had a tough first half, conceding an early goal to Andreas Pereira after a mistake from Bukayo Saka. Their attackers failed to make much of an impact in the first period either.

Second-half goals from Saka and Eddie Nketiah ended up giving Arsenal the lead. A red card shown to Calvin Bassey boosted their hopes of collecting three points but they conceded a late goal to Joao Palhinha as the game ended 2-2.