‘He wasn’t feeling well at all’ - Mikel Arteta provides key update on Kai Havertz's fitness as the latter missed win against Brentford

Star Center-forward Kai Havertz missed Arsenal’s away game against Brentford yesterday at the Gtech Community Stadium. The Gunners dominated the hosts and defeated them by a big margin of 3-1, moving to the second spot in the tournament points table. Now, Arsenal are just six points behind the table leaders, Liverpool.

Coming back to Havertz, he was out of the squad for the game against Brentford after falling prey to a sickness bug, alongside some of his teammates. It forced him to stay away from Arsenal’s New Year Day’s fixture against Brentford. The 25-year-old played a decisive role in the Gunners’ 1-0 win against Ipswich Town in a home game on December 28 last month.

He wasn’t feeling well at all – Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s head coach Mikel Arteta gave a big update on Kai Havertz’s comeback in the squad. Arteta also spoke about why Kai missed the comeback win against Brentford on Wednesday. 

“With Kai, it was obvious [that he could not play against Brentford]. He wasn’t feeling well at all and he had very clear symptoms. So stay away from it, put him in a car, and go back to London,” said Arteta to the journalists during a post-match press conference after the win against Brentford.

“These things happen. There are always things in this period - throat, infections, viruses. So I try to delay the lineup as well, as far as possible because you can get up in the morning and you can have a surprise unfortunately,” he added later.

Furthermore, the head coach Arteta looked quite positive while speaking about the possible return of Arteta for the game against Brighton on January 4.

“I think so, yeah. Hopefully, he will recover very quickly,” Arteta concluded.

Notably, Kai has been there in the starting XI of the Gunners in all their games in the ongoing Premier League except for two games on December 23 and December 28, respectively. In his 17 appearances for Arsenal in the current season, the Germany international has scored 7 goals, alongside two assists, spending maximum time on the field for his side.