Arsenal 3-2 Kairat Almaty: Havertz catches the eye as Gunners top the CL table

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Quotes round-up

Arsenal made it 8 wins from 8 in the Champions League this season, with a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty last night. It’s one of those where the scoreline makes it look like a different game, and in truth this really should have been more emphatic.

Mikel Arteta rang the changes, with returns for Riccardo Calafiori at the back, and Kai Havertz in midfield, and it was the German who made an impact in the second minute, threading a lovely ball through to Viktor Gyokeres. The first touch wasn’t great, but it broke kindly for the Swede who took it on, and fired in a low shot to make it 1-0.

A great start, but while the ref didn’t spot a foul from Calafiori in our box just a couple of minutes later, VAR did. Kairat were awarded a penalty, and Jorginho (not that one), tucked it away to make it 1-1. The Italian made amends with some nifty footwork deep in our half to keep the ball alive, and from there it was played forward, Gyokeres used his NFL frame to block off a defender, and Havertz cut inside and cracked home his first goal since he scored in the 5-1 win over Man City in early February 2025.

Gyokeres then had what seemed to be a host of chances to extend the lead. He missed one at the near post after good work from Havertz; he somehow put a great cross from Myles Lewis-Skelly over the bar from a couple of yards out; there was a close range header he didn’t quite connect properly with; and other moments where his touch let him down at the key moment. There was at least one other incident when a good pass from Noni Madueke would have sent him through after good movement behind the defenders, but like almost every final action from the winger last night, it wasn’t properly weighted. Still, Gyokeres did get into good positions, and the ball often found him there, so you can certainly view that as progress from some of what we’ve seen this season.

Gyokeres was involved in the third goal, ultimately credited with an assist for him. A lovely flick from Christian Norgaard sent Havertz behind, the striker got a small touch when he should have buried it himself, and perhaps it was going in but Gabriel Martinelli was there at the back post to make sure. There was a VAR check for offside, but the goal stood. Gyokeres then had one cleared off the line but the ref had already blown for a free kick, and Martinelli curled one just over the far corner before the half-time whistle went.

I thought that was a fun 45 minutes of football. Sure, it was low stakes against opposition who weren’t really at the same level, but after some of what we’ve experienced of late, if felt like a nice palate cleanser. At the break Calafiori and Havertz came off for Hincapie and Odegaard, and the second half was not quite as enjoyable. I accept it’s probably very nit-picky, because it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I’d like to have seen more from our attacking play because we had players who could have benefitted from goals and assists.

Instead, the pace went out of the game – which again is kind of understandable – but bar Martinelli who really worked hard and made a couple of decent headed chances for Odegaard, there wasn’t quite the incisiveness you’d like. I thought Eberechi Eze, who had been quieter than most in the first half, really grew into the game, and he actually finished the night with 6 key passes. One to Gabriel Jesus, on for Gyokeres, should have brought about another goal, but he put his shot wide. The Brazilian had one ruled out for offside too after a good pass from Norgaard, but on the right wing Madueke flattered to deceive too often and never produced the decisive final pass or shot. That late moment when he drove decisively into the box and then ballooned a ball into one of the executive boxes sort of summed up his night.

So, when they scored a late goal to make it 3-2, it felt like we’d blotted the copybook a little bit. Again, it doesn’t matter really, and at that stage Arteta had put on Brando Bailey-Joseph and Ife Ibrahim for their Arsenal debuts at 17 and 18 respectively, so that tells you how he viewed things. I suspect, however, he won’t have been that happy about that late goal, and a game we should have won convincingly looked tighter than it actually was.

Speaking afterwards, he said:

I’m very proud of the players and the run that we had in this first stage of the competition. It’s very difficult to win eight games in a row in the Champions League, and you can see what happened with all the other teams. We really need to acknowledge that.

And on the eye-catching and very welcome return of Havertz, he said:

Every player has unique qualities. Kai is a player who gives us so much versatility and threat from different positions because he’s a unique player in the areas that he can occupy and the way he gets associated with other players. He’s a player who understands, in the league, what we want to do. He copes really well with pressure and with different demands and he’s a player that is going to be really important in this second part of the season.

Ultimately, this was a game which meant the manager could rotate and rest some players, give useful playing-time to others who badly needed it, and I think there were positives to take ahead of Leeds on Saturday. Quite how many minutes Havertz is capable of in the more intense environment of the Premier League remains to be seen, but assuming there’s no reaction to his outing last night, you’d expect to see him on the bench at Elland Road.

Winning 8 from 8 is not to be sniffed at, and when you look at the players who didn’t play last night, you’d hope that they’ll return fresh and ready for what’s going to be a tough game away from home this weekend. Last night could, and probably should, have been better in terms of the scoreline, but if the real benefit of that is what we get against Leeds, then that’s fine by me.

Right, I’ll leave it there for now, but we’ll have an Arsecast for you a bit later on, chatting about this game in a bit more depth, and more besides. Stand by for that, until then, have a good one.

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