The cameras caught Izan along the touchline, peeling off his padded top, the floodlights catching the sheen of his sweat despite having only jogged and stretched.
The crowd nearest to him was already surging to their feet, phones raised, scarves swinging as a murmur began to build into a chant, a wave rippling across the stadium as if the supporters themselves were welcoming back a storm they'd been waiting on.
"It's a big ask of a player this young to change the game," Alan Smith continued, " but that's what happens when you're a special player. You're the one they turn to, and tonight the responsibility falls squarely on his shoulders. Strap yourselves in, this could change everything."
While the pitchside fever rose, the energy on the pitch wasn't overshadowed.
Ben White, who had recently come on for Jurrien Timber, strode down the flank with the ball in tow before whipping it across the pitch, where Havertz took it in stride without contention.
