Mikel Arteta can deal with Havertz injury by unleashing Arsenal's unbelievable star

Arsenal's injury concerns, particularly in attacking areas, are starting to pile up. On Wednesday evening, it was reported by David Ornstein and James McNicholas of the Athletic that Kai Havertz has "sustained a muscular injury". The 26 year old will therefore sit out upcoming clashes with Brentford, Wigan, Wolves and then Tottenham, hoping to be back in time to take on former side Chelsea on 1 March.

This set back certainly does not come at a good time. The German had started the last two Premier League matches against Leeds and Sunderland; the last time he'd been included in a league XI beforehand was on 2 February over a year ago. In-between, Havertz had also scored the clinching goal against Chelsea in the EFL Cup semi-finals, cementing the Gunners spot at Wembley.

Looking ahead, Mikel Arteta is now short of midfield options, given that Mikel Merino will face an extended period on the sidelines due to a foot injury. Ahead of Thursday's visit to Brentford, Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, and Leandro Trossard are all also doubts. Assuming all five members of this quintet miss out, which player that Arteta once called "unbelievable" does he really need to shine?

Mikel Arteta's ready made Kai Havertz deputy

Prior to this latest injury set back, Havertz had been started successive matches in midfield, in-behind Gabriel Jesus, who led the line during the victories over Leeds and Sunderland. Well, assuming Ødegaard is not ready to go, Eberechi Eze will return to the number ten role at the Gtech.

Earlier in the season, when Ødegaard was sidelined, Eze enjoyed an extended run in the team in his preferred central role. During this period, he put in, by some distance, his most eye-catching display for the club, bagging a hat-trick against Tottenham in the North London derby, a rare feat that Arteta labelled "unbelievable".

List of North London derby hat-trick scorers

• Ted Drake (Arsenal): October 1934.

• Terry Dyson (Tottenham): August 1961.

• Alan Sunderland (Arsenal): December 1978.

• Eberechi Eze (Arsenal): November 2025.

However, more recently, the England international has not started any of the last nine Premier League matches, actually not scoring a single goal since smashing Spurs in November. Having arrived from Crystal Palace for up to £67.5 million, Arteta and supporters were probably expecting him to have produced a little more up until this point.

Eberechi Eze Arsenal statistics

Note: Statistics via Transfermarkt, FBref & SofaScore.

Despite seeing a pretty decent amount of minutes, Eze is yet to consistently produce in the final third. He ranks highly for shots and shots on target, as well as creating seven big chances, but has only five goals and four assists to his name.

This is far from to say Eze has been a complete flop, that would be simply untrue, but the 27 year old was recruited to be a difference maker right away, and this has not transpired thus far. Nevertheless, he now has the perfect opportunity to change that. Eze has twice scored against Brentford during his day at Crystal Palace, controversially seeing a stupendous free-kick ruled out when he most-recently visited the Gtech too.

After that, the Gunners have two very winnable matches against Wigan Athletic and then Wolves so, in the absence of Havertz and Ødegaard, they really need Eze to take centre stage and showcase his obvious talent.