There had been times, even at such an early point in his Arsenal career, when the unrelenting scrutiny that accompanies a £65m price tag was a visible millstone around Kai Havertz’s neck. His teammates knew it and, on an afternoon that could hardly have gone more smoothly from their perspective, decided to lighten the load. A one-sided match was already half-won when Ryan Christie lunged messily at Martin Ødegaard eight minutes after half-time, giving them their second penalty and a chance to move out of sight. Bukayo Saka placed the ball but, to cheers from the away support, promptly elected to step aside.
Up walked Havertz and, even if the day’s stakes were relatively low by this point, a neutral might have felt a flutter of anxiety on his behalf. He has not played badly since making the inherently risky move from Chelsea, primarily to operate in midfield, but even a cod body language analyst would have been justified in observing a lack of confidence around opposition 18-yard boxes. Fluffing his lines here could have opened a fresh can of worms but he sent Neto the wrong way unfussily and, with Gabriel Magalhães as chief cheerleader, was encouraged to milk the faithful’s acclaim.
