The international break has started with news that Kai Havertz has pulled out of the Germany squad due to what the German national team describe as “knee injuries”.
The news broke on Sunday and was certainly met by a bit of surprise from Arsenal fans, given Havertz finished Saturday’s 3-1 win against Southampton and seemed fine throughout the contest.
As far as I’m aware, there is nothing to be overly concerned about when it comes to Havertz’s fitness.
From conversations I’ve had, he was fine to play the whole game on Saturday and the next few days will just be about monitoring him and giving him time to rest due to the minutes he’s played so far this season.
I don’t believe that there is anything more sinister than that going on.
Arsenal are just keen not to take any risks on a player who has played a huge amount of football over the past year and is seen as absolutely crucial over the coming weeks, especially with Martin Odegaard out.
That sounds sensible enough to me and Germany clearly agree, given they haven’t asked that Havertz be released anyway so that the national team’s doctors can make their own assessment on him.
So I absolutely expect him to be in the Arsenal starting XI when they visit Bournemouth immediately after the international break.
Which can only be good news, given the remarkable run of form the 25-year-old is currently on.
