Mikel Arteta hopes Kai Havertz is ready to return from a long-term knee injury and has predicted the German will bring \u201ca different dimension\u201d to Arsenal\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n
Havertz has been sidelined since undergoing knee surgery in August and had been expected back at the start of December before a setback in his rehabilitation. The 26-year-old was Arsenal\u2019s top scorer in the Premier League last season with nine goals despite missing several months with a hamstring issue. He was pictured training this week and Arteta revealed Havertz had been \u201cquite close\u201d to being considered for the Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Crystal Palace<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will be a matter of days, not weeks,\u201d the manager said. \u201cLet\u2019s see in the next step how he responds to that. But he\u2019s a player that we miss a lot, a player that brings the team into a different dimension. So I\u2019m really happy to have him back very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s meeting with Brighton may come too early for Havertz, who will compete when fit with the \u00a364m signing Viktor Gy\u00f6keres and Gabriel Jesus \u2013 who started his first game for almost a year against Palace \u2013 to lead the line. Gabriel Martinelli is a doubt with a knee injury and Arteta has more problems at the back after revealing Piero Hincapi\u00e9 picked up an unspecified injury in the win over Everton.<\/p>\n