While Newcastle United fans scrambled for trains, tickets and hotels around London for next month’s League Cup final through blissfully blurry vision, wide-eyed Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was leading his side on to an Emirates flight to Dubai for a much-needed warm weather winter training break.

Arsenal are at a crossroads. There is so much still to play for this season – in the Premier League and the Champions League, the two most important competitions – but they are reaching a defining summer under Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta has described Kai Havertz as a genetic "powerhouse" and backed the Germany international to compensate for Arsenal's failure to sign a forward in January.