Why is Kai Havertz not playing for Arsenal against West Ham?

As the hectic festive football flurry continues in the English Premier League, Arsenal look to retake their position at the summit of the table as we say goodbye to 2023 and welcome in 2024. Ahead of Thursday evening’s clash with fellow Londoners West Ham United, the Gunners sit two points behind Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool but know that a home win will clinch top spot with exactly half the 38 games having been played.

After breaking through last season as Manchester City’s main rivals for the title - The Reds taking a breather from that particular responsibility - Mikel Arteta targeted reinforcements to push on even further in his goals to bring glory back to the club. Big money was invested in the likes of Declan Rice and Kai Havertz, with eyes on taking that one extra step to become champions of England, something not seen in north London for two decades.

Havertz suspended for West Ham clash

Strength in depth is often required for teams with serious title ambitions and Arsenal are slowly building on that. For the game at the Emirates this will be tested again with Takehiro Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber all still ruled out injured. Added to that is the void left by Havertz, a player who has struggled to convince fans of the Gunners (similar to the rejection at Chelsea) but has come into some form of late and is nailing down a place for Arteta.

The German is suspended for this particular game after collecting five yellow cards over the season so far, the latest in the draw against Liverpool. That results in a one-match sanction.

What the manager said:

Arteta spoke recently about the squad situation.

“Well at the moment, it is very difficult. We are really short. We have positions that we have been very exposed for the last six weeks and hopefully we are going to get players back. In what condition and when? That’s a question mark as well because we have some long-term injuries still for certain players that give us a lot of versatility and that’s an issue.”

Predicted Arsenal XI vs West Ham

Although Arteta has some options to decide on, I’m thinking he’ll likely go for the following from the start, with Jorginho coming in for Havertz:

Possible Arsenal starting XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Jesus, Trossard

Which players will Arsenal lose to African Cup of Nations?

As you may know, the AFCON tournament gets going in January and this means that some big names will be leaving their club to represent their country. For the Gunners this can only potentially affect two first team players: Mohamed Elneny (Egypt) and Thomas Partey (Ghana).