Arsenal’s Kai Havertz sustains muscular injury, set to miss north London derby – The Athletic
Arsenal’s Kai Havertz has sustained a muscular injury and is set for a spell out of the team.
The forward is now expected to miss the north London derby on February 22.
The Germany international only returned to action last month, after missing the majority of 2025 through injury, and has featured in Arsenal’s last four games, recording two goals and two assists.
Before Arsenal’s clash with rivals Tottenham Hotspur, they take on Brentford on Thursday, Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday and Wolverhampton Wanders next Wednesday, with Havertz set to be sidelined throughout.
Havertz has struggled with injuries in the last year and tore the hamstring in his right leg during Arsenal’s training camp in Dubai in February 2025. He underwent surgery on the issue and returned just before the end of the 2024-25 campaign but then missed a further five months of action due to a knee issue sustained in August. At present, this new muscular issue is not thought to be similarly serious.
The 26-year-old’s injury comes with Arsenal also missing Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Max Dowman.
Havertz has primarily been deployed in midfield in recent weeks, so his absence is compounded by the fact that Merino will miss an extended period after undergoing surgery on a foot issue. “The doctors were really happy with the way it went,” manager Mikel Arteta said about Merino on Wednesday. “The time frame we’re talking about is months, whether it’s three, four or five, I don’t know.”
Arteta added: “Max is still not available. The rest (Saka, Odegaard and Leandro Trossard) we will see with the medical team.”
Havertz returned to the Arsenal squad for the first time since the 1-0 opening day victory over Manchester United against Aston Villa on the 30th December but did not come off the bench. He made his return to action in the FA Cup victory over Portsmouth on January 11, where he played for over 20 minutes.
The German made his first start of the season against Kairat Almaty in the Champions League, where he scored and provided an assist despite only playing the first half of the game.
Speaking after that game where Havertz was named the player of the match, Arteta said: “The team knows how important Kai is for us and how he can help the team to be much better and take the team to another level.
“Let’s bring him on board and make sure we use him in the right way because he is going to be really important for us in the second part of the season.”
The versatile forward came off the bench to score a late winner against former club Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final on February 3, and has started Arsenal’s last two Premier League games against Leeds United and Sunderland on Saturday. He was substituted after 67 minutes on Saturday having assisted Viktor Gyokeres’ first goal.
