Arsenal bowed out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round following a shock penalty shootout defeat to Fleetwood Town at Highbury Stadium yesterday.
Manager Mikel Arteta made nine changes to the starting XI from the 2-0 Premier League win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
Still, it was a very good Arsenal line-up, with the only surprise being academy graduate Ceadach O’Neill, who made his first-team debut from the left wing.
Fleetwood capitalised on a defensive error by Marli Salmon to open the scoring, but the Gunners pulled level through a scuffed shot from Viktor Gyokeres.
The game eventually went to penalties after 90 minutes. Fleetwood came on top (5-3) in the shootout after Bruno Guimaraes messed up his spot kick.
In our view, there were very few positives to carry forward. O’Neill showed promise on his debut and could be a player to watch out for in the long run.
Looking at the underperformers, Kai Havertz’s performance on the night was deeply depressing.
The 27-year-old looked like he left his goalscoring boots at home after a hall-of-shame performance.
Havertz has been manager Mikel Arteta’s regular man upfront, but he played more in a second-striker role to start yesterday, with Gyokeres leading the line.
While Gyokeres fared decently with his first goal of the season, Havertz’s showing was atrocious.
The German had seven shots on goal, with only one on target.
Havertz had two big scoring chances from headers where he fluffed his lines. He also squandered a brilliant close-range opportunity, hitting wide of the far post with a first-time shot.
Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch made a tremendous point-save to deny Havertz too, but we believe he could have done better to score with a low shot rather than going for just power.
Havertz managed 54 touches and 25 passes yesterday, winning 10 duels. However, he was frustrating with the ball at his feet, losing possession 13 times in just over 95 minutes.
In our view, this was undoubtedly Havertz’s worst performance in an Arsenal shirt, surpassing his poor displays against Manchester United and Newcastle United in the Cup competitions in the past.
He looked devoid of confidence in front of goal, and we personally would not start him ahead of Viktor Gyokeres (If Arteta chooses between them) for Sunday’s Premier League clash at Liverpool.
Stats from Sofascore.com