Why Kai Havertz Is Not Playing for Arsenal in Crucial Brentford Clash

London – Arsenal’s charge toward the Premier League summit hit another speed bump on Thursday night as Mikel Arteta’s side lined up at the Gtech Community Stadium without Kai Havertz, the German whose recent re-emergence had offered timely relief to an injury-ravaged squad.

Manchester City’s mid-week win trimmed the Gunners’ lead at the top to three points, intensifying the stakes of the short trip to face a Brentford side that has lost only twice at home all season and sits an impressive seventh under interim boss Keith Andrews. Yet while the Bees’ form commands respect, Arsenal’s immediate concern is the treatment table.

Havertz, 26, is back on it. After five months out, he had featured in six matches since his return, registering four direct goal contributions and re-establishing himself as a central-midfield option for Arteta. A fresh muscle injury, however, has ruled him out for a minimum of two weeks, beginning with the Brentford fixture. The setback is expected to sideline him for four matches in total: the league meeting with Brentford, an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Wigan Athletic, and subsequent league encounters with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur.

The news compounds selection headaches for Arteta, who is already without captain Martin Ødegaard and long-term absentee Mikel Merino—recovering from foot surgery and unlikely to return for three to five months. Young midfielder Max Dowman will not resume training until next week, further thinning the engine-room ranks.

Pre-match updates offered only cautious optimism elsewhere: Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were mentioned as possible returns after weekend knocks, but neither was assured of facing Brentford. With Havertz now unavailable, Martín Zubimendi and Declan Rice are set to anchor midfield, while Eberechi Eze appears the most probable candidate to fill the void left by the absentees.

For a side desperate to restore a six-point cushion at the league’s summit, the timing could hardly be worse. Arsenal must navigate an awkward west-London derby depleted in numbers yet expected to deliver a statement response.