Arsenal's Evolution Under Arteta: Havertz and Konsa Shine

Arsenal’s title defence has barely begun, but Mikel Arteta’s team are already playing like a side intent on rewriting their own reputation.

Last season, rivals sneered and branded them “Set Piece FC” as they bullied teams from corners and free-kicks on their way to the Premier League crown. Three games into this campaign, that tag looks badly outdated. Three wins, every goal from open play, and a style that has the champions purring.

Arteta, speaking before the trip to the Stadium of Light, made it clear this is no accident.

“I like a lot what I’ve seen from the team so far,” he said. “For sure, it’s for flair but also just making sure what happens on the pitch is what we want. And having that dominance and control and threat in our minds.”

This is not just about pretty patterns. It’s about control. About strangling games on their own terms. About a side that once leaned heavily on rehearsed routines now slicing through teams with fluid, joined‑up attacks.

“It’s the way we have to continue and evolve in certain areas,” Arteta continued. “That is an area that we have put a lot of emphasis into and now we have a lot of players back.”

With a deeper squad and more weapons available, the manager wants ruthlessness, not just rhythm.

“The opportunities and synergies that we create with the team are much stronger and we’re going to continue to be like that. That’s always the intention.

“Sometimes it’s the level of the opponents, sometimes the level of execution and that has to increase as well to be much more efficient and dominant throughout the games and we will continue to do that.”

Havertz at the heart of Arsenal’s evolution

If there is a symbol of this new, more expressive Arsenal, it is Kai Havertz.

The German forward has started the season in blistering form, drifting across the frontline, popping up between the lines, and constantly asking different questions of defenders who never quite know where he will appear next. He has delivered goals and chances while refusing to be pinned to a single role.

For Arteta, that shape‑shifting quality is the point.

“The best position is in relation to what the game demands and what the team demands on the day,” he explained. “To be as efficient as possible, as unpredictable as possible.”

Unpredictable is exactly what Havertz has been. Arteta put that down to what’s happening in his head as much as under his boots.

“Kai is extremely intelligent, that’s his biggest quality,” he said. “He understands the game, he’s five, ten seconds ahead of the game, he knows what he’s having, he doesn’t need to think about it, he just acts. And he just makes the people around him better, which is another massive quality.

“On top of that, he’s scoring goals, he’s producing chances, his work rate, as we all know, is just outstanding. And he’s in a great emotional state at the moment.”

A confident Havertz, roaming and dictating, gives Arsenal a different edge. For opposition managers, he is fast becoming the problem you cannot quite solve in a week’s training.

Konsa brings steel and a voice at the back

While the spotlight has fallen on Arsenal’s attacking swagger, the champions have quietly reshaped their defensive core as well.

Ezri Konsa’s arrival from Aston Villa for £55 million has already altered the tone of the backline. Not just in how he defends, but how he leads. The centre-back has slotted straight into the starting XI and, according to his manager, wasted no time making himself heard.

Arteta has been struck by how natural the transition has looked.

“It’s certainly something to admire because it’s not easy at all and you should not take it for granted,” he said. “But after talking to a lot of people that have worked with him, whether staff members or players, I already had a sense the way everybody was talking about him.

“That he’s a person that is great at gathering people together. He has a real personality, a lot of leadership skills.”

The impression was immediate.

“And you saw the first day,” Arteta added. “He just trained the way he was talking, the way he was presenting himself. It was very impressive and so far he’s done a really good job.”

Free-flowing in attack, louder and more assured in defence, Arsenal head into Sunderland with their champions’ swagger intact and a fresh layer of sophistication. If this is only the start of their evolution, the rest of the league knows what’s coming: a side that no longer needs set pieces to hurt you, and now has the brains and the bite to dominate from first whistle to last.