After seeing Gabriel Martinelli net his first Gunners hat-trick as well as make his own return from injury, Kai Havertz was a happy man following our 4-1 win against Portsmouth.
We recovered from a slow start which saw us fall behind to level via an own goal, before Gabi came to the fore with a three-goal salvo to take the game away from Pompey and book our spot in the FA Cup fourth round.
Kai came on for the final 22 minutes of the game for his first action since August, and he paid tribute to his fellow forward for scoring a treble, especially for scoring a pair of uncharacteristic headers that Kai himself would have been proud of!
“He’s buzzing,” Kai revealed afterwards. “I think he deserves it. Every day he works so hard, and especially the way [he did it] today, with two goals after a set piece, it’s incredible. So I think we’re all very happy for him.
“They were top [goals], especially against teams where they actually focus a lot on set pieces, so to jump that high and then score two goals is amazing.
“I think it’s always tough in the third round of the FA Cup, and a place like this is always tough to play at. We didn’t play our best football, but we won the game and that’s the most important thing.”
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Kai’s introduction from the bench was cheered loudly by the thousands of Gooners who made the trip down from north London, who were appreciative of the effort he put in to get back fit after suffering a knee injury on the opening day against Manchester United.
Now the final step of his recovery is complete, the German striker is aiming to make his own impact on our side’s fortunes again, having been waiting for a chance to help with our trophy push on all four fronts this term.
On how he felt returning to action after five months out, he added: “It’s a special feeling, it’s amazing for myself. I’m just happy to be back with the boys and I hope I can help them as much as possible now.
“I think the way the boys have played the last couple of months, it was so nice even to watch from the outside, even though it’s always very hard to be in a situation like this. But just to watch them was amazing and I’m very happy to be with them now.”
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