Mikel Merino giving Arsenal something Kai Havertz doesn't

Mikel Merino is playing rather well up top for Arsenal in what is an unfamiliar position for him.

Mikel Merino was thrust into a striker role for Arsenal with the club going through what Mikel Arteta called an "emergency situation" with the long injury list to attackers in the squad.

Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli were all long-time absentees, meaning Arteta had to get creative in how he set his team up.

Of course, with no recognized striker, it was always going to be tough for Arsenal to have a constant stream of goals as we have become accustomed to, but over the past few weeks, Merino is starting to come into his own as a forward.

The Spaniard has scored twice in his last three games in all competitions, but for club legend Ian Wright, it is what Merino is doing outside of scoring that has him bullish going forward.

"What we've seen is that he's a very intelligent player," Wright said on Premier League's Matchday Live via 90min.com. "When you watch him, and he's linking up the play, by the time [the ball] does get to him – I watched it again when they played PSV – he's so composed and knows where he's passing it. That's exactly what Arsenal need in respect of keeping the ball up in that [attacking] third. It's something we don't do well because we haven't got a focal point. Kai Havertz isn't that player either, where he links the play how Merino can do it. Merino does it in a way where he can hold it and you can go and join him. Then, all of a sudden, we’re playing a bit further up."

In truth, being a target man, and being part of the build-up play has never been Kai's strength, but for Merino, his physical build allows him to be a little more physical than Havertz.

Plus, as a midfielder, his array of passing and how to play with his back to goal is far better developed than Havertz, and we think that is what Wright is alluding to.

With Merino able to take the ball and lay it off in such a manner that his teammates now feed off it and drive forward, something they didn't do with Havertz.

Now, Merino isn't the answer by any means, but he's offering something that Havertz might not be able to, and maybe that is why the Gunners have seen an uptick in output over the last few weeks.

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