Arsenal striker Kai Havertz broke his silence after a seasonal injury.
Havertz will miss the rest of the campaign after having contracted a hamstring injury during a training camp in the United Arab Emirates, as reported for the first time by Mail Sport.
The German successfully underwent an operation on Saturday and will start a recovery program that will extend to the preseason.
Havertz posted on social media: 'The last few days were difficult to process both physically and mentally. But yesterday was a good day. A successful and a victory '
'Thanks for all support from support in the past days, it was really helped.
“I am now focused on my trip to full fitness and give all the support I can give to the team in the background.”
Havertz's injury has left Arsenal with only three fit attackers in Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Raheem Sterling.
However, it was Mikel Merino, who turned out to be the hero in Saturday's 2-0 win over Leicester, where the Spaniard came from the bank to score a late fast-fire brace.
The midfielder said: “He [Mikel Arteta] Said that I had to come in this morning as a striker. We talked a bit with one of the assistants. It is the first time in my career that I played that position.
“He said I had to go with my strengths and luckily I was able to help the team with two goals today.”
Arteta explained his decision to play Merino as a striker and said: 'I didn't think about him, to be honest. It was a lot of debate. I didn't want to drive him crazy. I told him this morning that he could play there, we believe he could sit there if the game needed the context. He won the game for us.
“But Mikel has that. It is a good threat because he can smell danger. He can anticipate the promotion. He really has a good timing to get to certain areas.
'And then of course he has the ability to perform with many parts of his body. And he needed the delivery. He certainly had that too and he put it in the back of the net. '
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