The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League.
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00:00 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Chris Wheatley Show, ShotsTV's one-stop shop to
00:07 keep you in the know on all things Arsenal. I'm your host, Jason Jones, I'm joined as
00:12 always by Chris Wheatley. This week we'll be discussing the Gunners' 1-0 win over Brentford,
00:16 we'll be talking about potential interest in Victor Ossieman, and as always we'll be
00:20 putting your listener questions to Chris as well. So without further ado, Chris, plenty
00:25 to get through on this Monday morning, not least the fact that for the first time this
00:29 season Arsenal are on top of the Premier League, obviously they've had quite a lot of last
00:34 season, didn't quite make it in the end, but a good win over Brentford, a hard-fought win
00:39 I think it's fair to say, over Brentford, three points for Michael Artetta's men and
00:43 like I say, back at the summit.
00:45 Yeah, exactly, couldn't have said it better myself. I think Arsenal have done really well
00:51 in certain away games this season, just in terms of grinding them out, just looking at
00:56 the stats already, three of Arsenal's four away victories in the Premier League this
01:00 season have been 1-0. So it shows that they're kind of grounding these matches out and that's
01:04 exactly what they did on Saturday against Brentford, a really good goal for Kai Osaka
01:10 with the cross and who would have thought it, Kai Havertz at the back post to head home
01:16 and score such an important goal, not only for Arsenal in terms of getting those three
01:20 points, but for him because he's been under a lot of pressure in recent weeks and months,
01:25 £65m he joined from Chelsea in the summer and so far he's kind of blattered to deceive,
01:32 but really it was a fantastic goal from him against Brentford and he'll be hoping for
01:37 more of the same, but yeah, a really good occasion for Michael Artetta as well, 200
01:42 games in charge of Arsenal and that's exactly what he would have wanted, a win.
01:46 You mentioned Kai Havertz there Chris, obviously man of the moment with that winning goal,
01:50 late on in the game as well, it has to be said. We saw Michael Artetta's reaction at
01:54 the final whistle as well, really embracing Havertz, taking him over to the away fans,
01:59 really making sure that he got his plaudits for that contribution. How important can a
02:05 goal like that be for his Arsenal career? You said yourself it hasn't really hit the
02:09 heights that perhaps he or Michael Artetta would have hoped for so far, but getting on
02:15 the score sheet and not just getting on the score sheet, but getting a winning goal as
02:18 well in a really tight game, can this be the catalyst that sort of catapults him towards
02:24 a form that he would have been hoping for in Arsenal?
02:26 Well, it's 13 games for Kai Havertz so far in the Premier League, that's his second goal
02:34 when he scored against Brentford. So far, like I say, he's kind of flattered to deceive.
02:39 We've seen him even be played at left back for his country, for Germany, in the previous
02:44 international break. So I think with Havertz it's just about having that settled position,
02:49 getting regular game time and really finding his way in this Arsenal team. Because of course
02:54 he only joined in the summer, I know he came from another London team, but he still needs
02:58 to kind of settle in and adapt to things at Arsenal. So yeah, a really good goal for him.
03:07 But I think with Havertz the most important thing right now is just to get regular game
03:11 time in. He didn't of course start the game, he came on as a substitute. There are players
03:16 ahead of him in that Arsenal midfield and I think right now he just wants to get a starting
03:21 position in the team. So yeah, not really too much to say other than I think he will
03:27 be looking to build on the momentum from scoring that goal. Of course there's some tough games
03:33 ahead in this upcoming festive fixture list, so Arsenal will be looking to probably rotate
03:39 in some positions and midfield is an area where they've had a few injuries. So I'm sure
03:43 Havertz will get some regular game time over the next few weeks.
03:47 You touched on his versatility, obviously playing full-back for Germany, but we know
03:52 he can play in an advanced position as well. Do you think that Arteta wants him to be a
03:57 midfielder? Do you think that's where he sees his long-term future in an Arsenal shirt?
04:01 Well you mentioned there Jason that Havertz played at left-back for his country and yeah,
04:06 that's something that Julian Nagelsmann mentioned. He's a good option there. I think Mikkel Arteta
04:11 sees Havertz not particularly as a left-back but as a good option to play across the midfield.
04:17 He can play in a full-to-nine position as well. As you've seen with that goal, he's
04:22 able to come up trumps with important goals in important moments. So yeah, I do think
04:29 he will eventually be settled into that midfield role. I think he will play a bit further back
04:35 but he's able to get into those positions of course, which is really valuable for Arsenal
04:40 to have an intelligent player like that. But I do feel at the moment, as I said, he's just
04:45 going to be trying to break into that Arsenal team. They have plenty of options there. I
04:50 think Havertz as well is just really, really desperate to prove himself. £65 million is
04:56 a huge amount of money and of course a lot of Chelsea fans were saying that Arsenal made
05:01 a mistake by signing Havertz in the summer. But I think from everyone's perspective, Mikkel
05:08 Arteta and Havertz in particular, I think they're really just desperate to see him succeed.
05:12 That goal and that moment as well after the game where Mikkel Arteta put his arm around
05:18 Havertz and dragged him to the Arsenal away fans, he said he did that because he knew
05:23 Havertz wouldn't go over himself and take the plaudits. I think that says about the
05:27 kind of humble character that Havertz is and just what kind of player they've recruited
05:32 at Arsenal. It's not just about his technical ability of course, but it's also about the
05:36 character and the personality off the pitch. I think that's something that Arteta has really
05:40 tried to recruit since he joined the club and Havertz is really one of those players
05:45 who I think kind of embellishes that.
05:48 Finally, Chris, we kind of have to talk about Aaron Ramsdale. Obviously, drafted back into
05:53 the side with David Raya ineligible to face his parent club, not necessarily the sort
05:59 of performance that the England international will have wanted to put in given the opportunities
06:03 have been sore for you and far between for him in North London recently.
06:06 Yeah, it was a tough game for Aaron Ramsdale. Although looking at his highlights, I don't
06:12 think he had the most calamitous of games that everyone was saying he had. To be fair,
06:19 in my player ratings, I did rate him quite low because he did make a couple of errors,
06:22 really glaring errors, especially in the opening stages of the game where he literally passed
06:27 the ball to a Brentford player and he was bailed out on a couple of occasions by his
06:33 teammates. Declan Rice in particular, fantastic block off the line from him. And then later
06:39 on in the game, Alexander Zinchenko made another great block. So yeah, he was a little bit
06:44 fortunate to escape from making really big errors in an important game. But to be fair,
06:52 Mikkel Arteta wasn't going to speak about it in his post-match press conference. He
06:56 was asked about Ramsdale, really didn't want to talk about him at all, just said he's so
07:01 happy about the win, so happy with the team's performance. It's clear, though, that there
07:05 is an issue there with Ramsdale because he's just, you know, he's not going to get regular
07:10 game time. Now, David Ryer is the number one goalkeeper. He only started against Brentford,
07:15 really, just because of the rules. You know, Ryer couldn't face his former club.
07:21 And yeah, I think in terms of that game, it was disappointing for Ramsdale, really. And
07:28 Thomas Frank also was asked after the game if it was in his game plan for the Brentford
07:34 players to really pressure Ramsdale when he was in possession of the ball. And he said
07:38 that he didn't want to really answer that question because he's been asked about it
07:42 three, four, five times in his post-match interview. So fair play to Thomas Frank there
07:48 for not creating headlines, I guess, which people wanted. But I think it was a clear,
07:55 tactical idea from Brentford to really pressure Aaron Ramsdale because they could see that
08:01 there's a bit of a weakness, a bit of a shakiness there. He doesn't look confident at the moment,
08:05 which is understandable. You know, he doesn't play week in, week out. And I think right now,
08:10 David Ryer is the undisputed number one and Ramsdale's going to find it difficult,
08:15 I think to break back in.