Pundit suggests that 24-year-old Arsenal man was running ‘in slow motion’ last night

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Pundit Gabby Agbonlahor wasn’t pleased with what he saw from Arsenal midfielder Kai Havertz against Lens last night.

Agbonlahor was reacting to the match on TalkSPORT (4/10 7:40am) as the Gunners fell to their first defeat of the season.

It was a case of two sides in very different form when it came to finishing their chances.

Arsenal didn’t create as many opportunities as they might have liked, but only Gabriel Jesus was able to find the back of the net.

His well-taken finish was nothing compared to the way Adrien Thomasson and Elye Wahi took their chances for the home side.

It was a difficult evening for many Arsenal players and Agbonlahor wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Kai Havertz.

The 24-year-old retained his place in the side and scored his first goal for the club against Bournemouth.

He should have had his first Arsenal assist too but after some good work from Leandro Trossard, he couldn’t find a way past Brice Samba.

Havertz looked lost for Arsenal vs. Lens

Speaking about Arteta’s team selection and the loss of Bukayo Saka to injury, Agbonlahor said: “You’ve seen injuries to [Gabriel] Martinelli, you’ve seen injuries to [Leandro] Trossard.

“Eventually it’s going to happen to [Bukayo] Saka and it has now. He’s back-heeled a ball, definitely done a hamstring injury.

“But then it doesn’t help when you’ve got players like [Kai] Havertz that runs around the pitch in slow motion and looks like he’s lost.

“It’s these players that are making [Mikel] Arteta have to start Saka because he knows he’s the main man to score goals.”

Kai Havertz’s performances have been under the microscope ever since his big-money move from Chelsea in the summer.

His languid running style doesn’t do him many favours, although there was a point in the season where he’d covered more ground than any other Arsenal player.

Arteta isn’t playing Havertz in a role that’s going to see him become a prolific goalscorer or reach the top of the assists charts any time soon.

However, he’ll want to improve his current offering simply to take some pressure off his performances.

Havertz didn’t have his best game against Lens but can hardly be blamed for Arsenal’s first defeat of the season.

It will be interesting to see if he’s given the nod against Manchester City on Sunday.