Kai Havertz: Something ‘very special’ is happening at Arsenal

By Philip Duncan, Press Association

Kai Havertz believes something “very special” is happening at Arsenal after team-mate David Raya claimed he was “100 per cent” confident the Gunners could win the Champions League.

Havertz scored a stoppage-time winner against Sporting Lisbon to hand Arsenal a major advantage in their quarter-final clash ahead of next week’s return leg at the Emirates.

Following back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, Arsenal’s campaign was on a knife edge heading into Tuesday’s fixture at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

But their late 1-0 win will provide Mikel Arteta’s players with renewed hope that they will not end the season empty handed.

And Havertz said: “We needed that as we were all frustrated with how the last couple of weeks went.

“But now it’s time to move forward, it’s time to be positive and it’s time to all stick together.

“As a group – as players, staff and the fans – we’re all in this together and we still can make something happen this year.

“It can be something very special. That’s what we’re going to go for and now it’s time to win games.”

The foundation for Arsenal’s first-leg triumph in Lisbon was built on the back of a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Raya.

The Spain international was controversially benched for both of Arsenal’s cup defeats to Manchester City and Southampton.

But on his return to the line-up, he more than proved his worth with a stunning early save to deny Maxi Araujo ahead of two further late interventions prior to Havertz’s injury-time winner.

Raya’s clean sheet was his 22nd across 41 matches so far this season – which is four greater than any other goalkeeper across Europe’s top five leagues.

And the Spaniard is now confident Arsenal will not just reach a second-successive Champions League semi-final for the first time in the club’s history, but go on to win the competition for the first time, too.

“We believe 100 per cent that we can win it,” Raya told Amazon Prime. “We have to go step-by-step and game-by-game and keep showing what we can do.

“We have to focus on the present, but we have full belief. If you don’t believe, you are never going to win it, so you have to keep believing no matter what you go through.

“We came from two losses, we had to learn from that and use the pain in our belly to express ourselves and be better every single day. That is really important and the message we have to send out there.”

Arsenal return to Premier League action at home to Bournemouth on Saturday with the opportunity to extend their lead over Manchester City from nine points to 12, while Pep Guardiola’s side take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge a day later.