The German was deployed up front by Thomas Tuchel in the victory over Everton and then again away at Leeds United this weekend. Involved in both goals against the Toffees, he had less luck at Elland Road as a combination of good goalkeeping and the ball not quite falling his way meant the visitors drew a blank.

Tuchel spoke afterwards about his attacking players needing to trust the process and not worry too much about the dry spell in front of goal. Havertz, however, has called on his team-mates to forget the excuses and focus instead on putting things right.

‘It's a little bit disappointing because we were the better team but we don’t score enough goals,’ he said of the 0-0 stalemate in West Yorkshire. ‘We are not clinical enough in front of the goal.

‘We had good chances and I had two myself but it’s not easy to score in this league. We have to keep on going to create chances and hopefully in the next few games some more goals will come for us.

‘We have to keep our heads up because the next game is Wednesday and it is very important.’

On a personal level, it has been a tumultuous first season in English football for the 21-year-old. Signed from Bayer Leverkusen in September, the midfielder has struggled with injury and illness, not least after contracting Covid-19 a couple of months after arriving in London.

The virus left him at home for almost three weeks and the after-effects took even longer to recover from.

A more recent knock also curtailed his involvement in the early weeks of Tuchel’s charge, though Havertz now believes he is approaching full fitness once again, just in time for the business end of the season.

‘The coronavirus is now over [for me] and I feel good,’ he added. ‘I had a little injury in the past few weeks but it’s now time to play good.

‘I have to improve my game. It has not been easy for me but there are no excuses. I just have to keep on working and hopefully there will be a big turnaround soon. I will give it my best.’