Mikel Arteta has thanked fans for their support of Kai Havertz after the struggling Arsenal star scored his first goal for the club against Bournemouth.
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Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 win at the Vitality on Saturday, with Bukayo Saka opening the scoring before Martin Odegaard slotted home from the penalty spot just before half-time.
The away side were awarded another penalty shortly after the break, but instead of Saka or Odegaard stepping up as per usual, the Gunners captain handed the ball to Havertz to score for the first time in red and white.
Ben White completed the rout with a header from a free-kick in injury time.
Havertz made the shock move to the Emirates from rivals Chelsea over the summer in a £65million deal, with Mikel Arteta very keen on the German International who endured a mixed spell at Stamford Bridge.
Fans and pundits have been divided over the 24-year-old, especially after he failed to score or assist in his first nine appearances for his new club.
After scoring, Havertz’s teammates rushed to celebrate with him, with the away end chanting a new song for the midfielder to the tune of Shakira’s Waka Waka, and featuring the lyric: ‘Sixty million down the drain?, Kai Havertz scores again!’
Arsenal fans belting out the Kai Havertz chant at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon. ð pic.twitter.com/GNEIBLfbUV
‘I’m really happy for the win, but I’m even happier to be part of a team that shows the human qualities that they do today,’ Arteta said in his post-match press conference.
‘To show that empathy to a player that has some question marks they warmed me even more today. I’m so happy with our supporters the way they made him feel.
‘If there’s a player who deserves that it’s him. Probably it will change everything. If he had any question marks about how we feel about him they are out.’
In even better news for Arsenal, they have closed the gap to Manchester City in the table to just one point after the Citizens suffered a shock 2-1 loss at Wolves.
Up next, the Gunners travel to Lens in the Champions League on Tuesday before they host City in a huge clash next Sunday.
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