Arsenal vs Brentford: Kai Havertz proving worth the gamble amid Ivan Toney transfer links

A few months ago, Arsenal’s clash with Brentford on Saturday would have been viewed as Ivan Toney’s big audition.

The Brentford striker has made no secret of his desire to secure a move this summer and, on more than one occasion, he has publicly fluttered his eyelashes at Arsenal.

“I’ve been a Liverpool fan my whole life,” Toney told the Diary of a CEO podcast in August last year.

“But from young, I’ve liked Arsenal. I’ve liked watching Arsenal and how they play and how passionate their fans are.”

The Gunners’ goalscoring woes around the turn of the year added fuel to the fire regarding a move for Toney.

During three defeats on the spin Arsenal scored one goal from 61 shots, prompting club legend Ian Wright to post on social media: “We need a killer”.

The mood music at Emirates Stadium has changed since then and Arsenal go into Saturday’s game with Brentford in red-hot form.

They have won all of their League games in 2024 and in the process became the first team in English top-flight history to score 30 or more goals in their first seven matches of a calendar year.

Key to Arsenal’s resurgence has been the form of Kai Havertz, who has excelled upfront and in midfield during this run.

The German has fond memories of Brentford as, when the two sides met in November, he came off the bench to score a last-minute winner.

That was a turning point for Havertz, who had before then struggled after his £65million summer move from Chelsea.

Now, he is a man in form. The 24-year-old has scored three goals and claimed two assists in his last three League games - which is as many as he managed in his previous 32 matches for Chelsea and Arsenal.

“It shows his character as well and how he has dealt with all those question marks,” said Mikel Arteta.

“The attitude he showed all the time when things were not that good in certain phases of the game, but he continued to work hard and that’s why he's loved by everybody here.

“And then we can see his quality and intelligence on the pitch and the contribution he’s having to the team, so we’re very happy with him.”

For much of his career, the fact Havertz does not have a set position has been used as a stick to beat him with.

At Arsenal, however, it has proved his biggest weapon.

The German has impressed in a, as he calls it, “pocket position” in midfield, while he has operated well as a striker, too.

A key reason why Arsenal signed Havertz was his versatility. Predominantly the club viewed him as a No8 in midfield, but with his technical quality and intelligence they believed he could play multiple positions.

It has taken time, but those predictions have come true and Havertz is beginning to live up to the hype he had during his youth.

“I see a Dennis Bergkamp, Robin van Persie, Dimitar Berbatov kind of player,” former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel once said.

Those are big comparisons, but Havertz can emulate one Arsenal great at the weekend.

Should he score and claim an assist against Brentford, he will be come the first Arsenal player to do so in three straight Premier League games since Cesc Fabregas in September 2007.

Arteta, however, values Havertz for much more than just goals and assists. Even during the early part of the season, when the German was coming in for criticism, Arteta was impressed by his underlying numbers and the work he did off the ball for the team.

“The aggression that he has in high presses is really, really good,” he said. “He has the physical qualities to play very different kinds of games and that’s an attribute that we felt was going to be very positive for us.”