David Seaman says 24-year-old Arsenal man is ‘more of a threat’ than people realise

David Seaman has defended Arsenal midfielder Kai Havertz and believes he’s already improved Mikel Arteta’s squad.

Seaman was speaking on TalkSPORT (22/8 9:07am) after Arsenal won their second league game on the bounce.

Mikel Arteta will be delighted that his side avoided dropping points against a tough Crystal Palace side yesterday.

Roy Hodgson’s side rallied after Arsenal went down to ten men following a harsh red card given to Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Arteta was forced to make several changes after the Japanese defender was dismissed.

Even captain Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka were withdrawn before full-time so that Arsenal could bring on more defensive options.

One player Mikel Arteta put his faith in Kai Havertz to help Arsenal see out the game and David Seaman admitted his work does go under the radar.

Despite spending much of his time at Chelsea playing as a forward, Arteta has mainly deployed him in midfield.

It’s why even though he’s yet to record a league goal or assist, Havertz’s start to life at the Emirates hasn’t been too bad.

Seaman offers verdict on Arsenal star Havertz

Asked about the German international, Seaman said: “The players they’ve brought in have improved the squad and improved the team.

“Even [Kai] Havertz, you know he goes about his business and he’s more of a threat than people realise.”

Havertz may not be scoring goals for Arsenal yet, but as Seaman suggests, he’s putting in a huge shift on and off the ball.

The 24-year-old has won more ground duels and aerial duels than any of his teammates so far this season.

He was also tasked with pressing Crystal Palace’s defenders after Eddie Nketiah was withdrawn despite doing nearly 80 minutes of running in midfield.

It’s a thankless task, however, due to his previous reputation at Chelsea there will always be pressure on him to provide goals and assists.

A much fairer comparison would be with Granit Xhaka, who was brilliant last season and had his best attacking season last year.

The Swiss international scored and assisted seven goals and that’s the tally Havertz will be aiming to surpass.

Kevin Campbell believes Havertz could be a star for Arsenal while Edu was very impressed with him last night.

He’s going to have to work harder than Declan Rice to win over many Arsenal fans given his reputation in the Premier League before joining the club.

If he can prove people wrong, then he would have done a fantastic job this season.