Evening Standard
·22 agosto 2025
Kai Havertz injury: Arsenal suffer big blow as Mikel Arteta provides update ahead of Leeds clash

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·22 agosto 2025
Gunners will also be without summer signing Christian Norgaard against the newly-promoted side
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Kai Havertz has been ruled out of Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Leeds, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
Havertz has been out of action since last Sunday, when Arsenal beat Manchester United, after complaining of discomfort in his knee.
The German was absent from an open training session at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday morning.
News of Havertz’s knee trouble broke shortly after that and Arsenal have been assessing the striker this week to learn more about the injury.
The Gunners have moved to bolster their squad after Havertz’s injury and are closing in on a deal for Crystal Palace playmaker Eberechi Eze.
Arsenal are in action on Saturday, when they face Leeds in their first home game of the season, and Arteta gave an update on Havertz ahead of that.
“Well, certainly not fit for this match. Unfortunately, he picked up an injury and we don't really know yet the extent of it.
“I think we need a bit more time and some more tests and after that we'll have more clarity about the next steps.
“I prefer not to talk about the specifics but he's not fit. As I said, we need to explore that issue a little bit further and then decide what we're going to do.
“The bad scenario is that he can't play tomorrow. I would love to have him fresh and available and bring what he brings to the team. Unfortunately, that's not going to be possible.”
Doubtful: Ben White
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Arteta also confirmed summer signing Christian Norgaard will miss out against Leeds, while Ben White is a doubt after being substituted against Man Utd and sitting out the open training session earlier in the week.
“Yeah, Christian won't be in the squad,” the Spaniard added. “With Ben, let's see still how he reacts and what we decide. But Christian will be out for another week or so.”
With regard to Jurrien Timber, who took part in the early part of the session on Wednesday but was not involved in the training match at the end of it, Arteta has said the club are “managing his load” following ankle surgery in the summer.
“So on Jurrien, we have to manage his load. Obviously, he's been out for a long time again, and he comes from a long-term injury,” the Arsenal boss said.
“So we had a long week. We have to manage the load on that. So we have decided to take a little bit of training down, especially that day in the open session.”
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