[Arsenal](https://goonernews.com/) are a much stronger team when Kai Havertz is involved in the side, and as the Gunners wait for a healthy Martin Odegaard, the German international made another nifty cameo appearance off the bench for top striker Viktor Gyokeres against Brighton.
While you will find some Arsenal fans who actually would prefer Havertz to be the starting striker over Gyokeres, everyone knows that the Gunners have been there, done that with Havertz as a traditional 9. It doesn’t work.
But what does work is having Havertz playing off a traditional No. 9. Gyokeres has been a positive addition to the Arsenal team since joining from Sporting CP, scoring goals, especially in important games, and being a real focal point up top with his size and shooting range.
Havertz is what Gyokeres is not. He is an elegant technician who is versatile enough to play multiple attacking and midfield positions. He wins with his brain, his passing, his touch, and his delicate dribbling in tight spaces.
In a lot of ways, Gyokeres and Havertz are the old big and little combination of strikers we used to see years ago in world football, and they were especially successful in the English divisions.
As Havertz rounds into health and form, Arsenal can start taking more advantage of his gifts to finally seal a successful title race over Pep Guardiola’s vaunted Manchester City side.
The Gyokeres and Havertz situation does not have to be an either or proposition that divides the fan base. Both men can help each other synergistically, and whlie they were not on the pitch together to close out the Brighton win, you could not help but think, watching Havertz, that they would benefit each other greatly.
Joe Soriano is the editor of _The Trivela Effect_ and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like _The Real Champs_ (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage _NFL Spin Zone_ and _Daily DDT,_ covering the NFL and pro wrestling.