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'It was hard to conquer her' - Mikel Arteta reveals the strange analogy about his wife he told Kai Havertz to help £65m signing get over early Arsenal struggles

Mikel Arteta revealed how he motivated Kai Havertz after his struggles at Arsenal with a strange analogy about his wife.

Arteta reveals analogy he used to motivate Havertz
Havertz's Arsenal struggles continued
Missed scoring from a close range against Man Utd

WHAT HAPPENED? The German international has struggled thus far at Arsenal since joining from Chelsea in the summer. He has appeared in four Premier League matches for the Gunners but is yet to find the back of the net. Havertz had an opportunity to score his first Arsenal goal against Manchester United on Sunday when he had a free shot at goal from a close range but he failed to connect with the ball.

Mikel Arteta, though backed the new signing and revealed his talk with the player where he used an unusual analogy about his wife while trying to motivate the German.

WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking to reporters after the game, Arteta said: "I said to Havertz: 'Things are hard at the beginning. When I met my wife, at the beginning it was hard to conquer her. It was hard, I had to try and message her, and go, and go. And at the end when she says: ‘yes, we can be together…’ it’s beautiful'."

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THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Gunners sealed a memorable 3-1 win over the Red Devils thanks to late goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus. Earlier in the first half, Marcus Rashford had handed the visitors the lead before Martin Odegaard equalised.

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