Freddie Ljungberg names Arsenal star who should have won man of the match over Martin Odegaard | Football

Martin Odegaard was named man of the match after his superb performance in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea – but Freddie Ljungberg felt Kai Havertz was the ‘best player on the pitch’ at the Emirates.

Arsenal got off to a nightmare start in Sunday’s heavyweight derby, with Morgan Rogers volleying Chelsea in front after only two minutes in north London.

The champions dug deep and found an equaliser through Havertz midway through the first half as the former Chelsea forward squeezed the ball past Emiliano Martinez at his near post to draw level.

And after wrestling back the momentum, the Gunners took the lead for the first time in the contest shortly after half-time as Odegaard capitalised on an exquisite dummy from Havertz to take the roof off the stadium.

The result saw Mikel Arteta’s men move level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table after three games, while Chelsea sit fourth ahead of their next clash with Leeds.

Odegaard, meanwhile, walked away with the man-of-the-match award after scoring his third goal in his last four matches in all competitions.

But giving his thoughts on the encounter on Viaplay’s television coverage, ex-Arsenal winger Ljungberg picked out Havertz as the hosts’ standout performer on the day.

‘This is why we watch football in my opinion. I’m willing to pay a lot of money to see this type of game,’ Ljungberg – a two-time Premier League winner with Arsenal – explained.

‘I think Chelsea are on their way, they are playing better, but I thought Arsenal were much stronger and more solid, you could see they’ve played together for much longer.

‘Havertz, in my opinion, was the best player on the pitch.

‘How he links up, how he jumps over the ball when he has to, unselfish… top, top performance.’

Ljungberg believes Havertz is ‘different’ to most other strikers, who may have tried to be the ‘hero’ rather than selling the dummy for Odegaard’s 50th-minute winner.

‘He’s a different type of striker but he’s aware and he scans non-stop, he knows exactly what’s happening,’ the Swede added.

‘He’s not selfish. A lot of strikers would take a touch, even if they know someone is coming behind: “I’m scoring this, I’m being the hero!”

‘He’s not that player.’

Though impressed with Havertz’s showing, Ljungberg’s Viaplay colleague Peter Schmeichel felt that Odegaard deserved to come away with the man-of-the-match prize.

‘My God, how good is he? For me, he was the best player on the pitch,’ the former Manchester United goalkeeper said.

‘Of course, we are seeing, we are noticing, what kind of player we like.

‘This guy… what he does for this team is just so impressive. He’s technically so good.

‘What he sees, nobody else sees that. Take him out of Arsenal’s team and it’s very, very difficult to see what would happen then.

‘I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a player of that quality.’

Arsenal kick off their Champions League campaign at Serie A giants Napoli on Wednesday night before returning to top-flight action with a tough away trip at Sunderland next weekend.

Chelsea, meanwhile, host Leeds in the Carabao Cup in midweek beforereturning to Stamford Bridge to play host to high-flying Hull in the Premier League on Saturday.

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