Kevin Campbell says 24-year-old Arsenal star was so much better in win than many realise

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Kevin Campbell insisted that he was really impressed by Kai Havertz during Arsenal’s win over Bournemouth on Saturday, claiming that a lot of the work that the German does goes unnoticed.

Campbell was speaking on Highbury Squad after Mikel Arteta’s side took the three points with an emphatic 4-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.

There has been so much said about Kai Havertz since his move to the Emirates in the summer. Signing the 24-year-old appeared to be a huge gamble from the Gunners given that he never lived up to expectations at Stamford Bridge.

Havertz failed to find the back of the net in his first few appearances. And he did drop out of the starting lineup at one stage after what appeared to be a difficult start.

Kevin Campbell lauds Kai Havertz after win at Bournemouth

With that in mind, Havertz was handed Arsenal’s second penalty of the afternoon at the weekend. And the attacking midfielder made the most of the chance, finding the bottom corner to bag his first goal for Arsenal.

There has been some criticism directed at the Gunners. Speaking to ESPN, Steve Nicol suggested that it was unprofessional for Arsenal to hand Havertz the penalty.

But Kevin Campbell thinks Havertz actually deserves a lot more credit for his performance on the day – with the summer signing working so hard off the ball.

“I thought he had a really good game as well,” he told Highbury Squad.

“Listen, we all want this guy to do well. He does a lot of work in the shadows. And do you know what, a lot of the graft that he does goes unnoticed. But he does graft a lot for the team. And I know sometimes the stats lie, but you look at his stats and his stats are very good.

“Up and down the pitch. I’ll tell you what I’ve noticed, he was putting tackles in, he was putting himself about as well. He’s one of those players, he just keeps the ball moving, nice and simply.”

Arsenal star could now be on way to silencing critics

Of course, a penalty against Bournemouth is not going to see Havertz silence all of his critics. But it does remove one argument from the equation. He has now scored a goal for Arsenal.

Obviously, Arsenal fans will know what is coming. For the foreseeable, Havertz will have to deal with talk about when he will get his first goal from open play. But ultimately, he is off the mark.

He does need to step up if he is going to play a big role in what Arsenal hope will be another title push.

But the Gunners are clearly confident that he can do exactly that. And they will hope that that first goal proves to be a turning point for Havertz at the Emirates.