How times have changed. Arsenal are going into a Premier League campaign with a feared No 9 leading their attack.
The £64million signing of Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon gives the Gunners the firepower they have so badly lacked in recent seasons.
Kai Havertz was the club’s top scorer with nine Premier League goals last season; that says it all.
This marks a new era for Arsenal. Gyokeres struck 54 goals in 52 matches across all competitions in 2024-25 — a jaw-dropping return, regardless of the Portuguese top flight’s strength — and has already given a flavour of what he brings to Arsenal.
The 27-year-old made a quiet 13-minute cameo on his debut against Tottenham in Hong Kong last month, mustering just two touches. Yet signs of what the Swede can offer came to the fore against Athletic Bilbao last weekend.
Daily Mail Sport analysed Gyokeres’ 39 league goals last season to assess how Arsenal can best utilise their new striker….
Viktor Gyokeres has already made his mark in an Arsenal shirt, scoring a glancing header in their friendly against Athletic Bilbao
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has warned that his new star striker can ‘destroy’ defenders
At 6ft 2in, with a sharp burst of speed and strong physique, Gyokeres is a tricky proposition for opponents.
After scoring against Athletic, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta warned: ‘He pins both centre backs. If you leave him with space one against one, he’s going to destroy you so he’s going to create a lot of space for us. In any situation there is a player there that can score a goal.’
That desire to ‘destroy’ and score from any situation can be seen from his goals in Portugal. One-to-one technical coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst, who has worked with Noni Madueke and Folarin Balogun, sees the striker as a good fit for Arsenal.
He told Daily Mail Sport: ‘Gyokeres is pretty complete. He’s really strong, he’s powerful, he is quick, so he can run beyond the defence, hold up play, and can travel with the ball as well.
‘What Arsenal have lacked in the last couple years is an out and out No 9. So somebody that can be that fox in the box and score those first-time finishes.
‘Arsenal have got quality in the wide areas of midfield and the full backs can contribute, but there’s now someone who can score a goal out of nothing and finish those chances.
‘Having that someone up top and occupying those defenders and the space will give more space for the attacking players around him.’
The Gunners have struggled with converting penalties. They scored just four of the eight they were awarded across all competitions last season, using five different takers.
Gyokeres is as reliable as they come from the penalty spot, with the Swede scoring 27 of his 28 penalties taken during his time at Sporting
Gyokeres fired home two penalties when Sporting beat Manchester City 4-1 in last season’s Champions League
Gyokeres brings calm and consistency. He netted 12 spot-kicks last term — five to the right, seven to the left, so expect him to grab the ball next time the Gunners win one.
Eight of his 25 open play goals involved runs from outside the area on the left flank.
He will be afforded much less space against Premier League teams who often play with a low block against the Gunners, but Gyokeres’ explosive ability to break lines and pivot towards the left does add a markedly different dimension.
The importance of Saka often leaves Arsenal relying on utilising play on that right side, which leaves their balance lopsided.
For example, in the Premier League last season Arsenal had attacking touches on the right flank 43 per cent of the time, compared to 33 per cent on the left. This gave Gabriel Martinelli, who operated on the left, extra space, but teams were often content with putting at least two players on Saka and taking the risk on the other side.
Whereas Gyokeres’ threat in running in from behind at full pelt and cutting in sharply, scrambles the minds of defenders.
They are unsure whether to lose their position completely in tracking the rapid movement away from the area, or backing off in the hope they can usher him away from goal.
Aged 19, Gyokeres joined Brighton from Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna. He didn’t play a single minute in the Premier League and was sent on a series of loans before moving to Coventry, where he scored 40 Championship goals in two seasons.
Last season, Gyokeres did the most damage driving from the left channel into the penalty area…
…while the majority of Arsenal’s chances were created from right flank through Bukayo Saka, leading to an unbalanced attack
A source who worked with Gyokeres at Brighton told Daily Mail Sport: ‘His favoured side is to come off the left. That is probably a learned aspect from Brighton because he was made to play on the left to fit in Aaron Connolly down the middle. Gyokeres never got much chance down the middle as a No 9.
‘I think Arsenal needed a strong powerful runner down the middle to stretch opponents and create space for the No 10 and inverted wingers. He (Gyokeres) is a willing runner so can do that.’
But that is just one element to his game, and one he will not be able to utilise as freely in England.
He also likes to occupy space centrally and in the area. He took 9.1 touches inside the opposition box per 90 minutes last season which compares favourably to Havertz’s 5.1. This is where the Swede will have most impact, owing to the fewer chances to run in behind defences because of low-block set-ups.
Of his 39 league goals, 11 came when he received the ball inside the box, with many showcasing old-school striker instincts — near-post darts, toe pokes, and sharp one-touch finishes.
The source added: ‘He needs to stay central at Arsenal because they have strong wide players, you don’t want him to get in their space.
‘He will get chances and will score because he’s a good finisher. He will fit in well because Arsenal don’t have that type of player.
‘He’s mentally much stronger now than he was at Brighton. He was 19 then — he needed to build confidence in a foreign league coming from Sweden and didn’t get that at Brighton. He had doubts in his head. Now you can see his mentality is different. He’s a man now, not a boy.
Gyokeres has matured mentally and physically since his three-year spell at Brighton, during which he scored just once
The 27-year-old has proven himself as a penalty-box predator, as shown by this map of his 31 goals from open play last season
‘Though he is a confidence player. He needs to start well. His real character will show if he goes five, six games without scoring. That will be the real test.’
How Arteta utilises the striker has some similarities to the situation Pep Guardiola found himself in three years ago.
The signing of Erling Haaland at Manchester City in 2022 saw Guardiola subtly change his tactics.
In January 2023, after Haaland’s hat-trick against Wolves, he said: ‘We know his quality. We cannot play a false nine with him and we have to adapt some movements.
‘He has to get the balls delivered as much as possible.’
It saw the two midfielders beyond Rodri pushed further up the pitch to help support the Norwegian, and fewer crosses whipped into the area (dropping from 23.2 per game to 19.7).
What Haaland has also provided is the ability to occupy centre backs, allowing room in behind for other attacking players like Phil Foden to run into. In that season, Foden struck 11 league goals and racked up five assists, benefitting from this extra space.
Gyokeres is not as tall as the Norwegian, but has a similarly strong physique and explosive bursts of pace. This will allow him to pin back defenders and stretch the backline to create pockets for Arsenal’s more creative players like Martin Odegaard.
The addition of Erling Haaland in 2022 transformed the way Manchester City play, with Pep Guardiola using the Norwegian as the focal point of the attack
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard will benefit from the extra space created by Gyokeres’ presence up front
Similar patterns could be seen last weekend, particularly when Madueke came on at half time. He is more direct than Martinelli and kept trying to find Gyokeres in the area.
Of their attacking touches, Manchester City increased the number in the central third from 25.8 per cent to 28.8 per cent in the season Haaland arrived. The attacking touches in both the left third and right third dropped.
Gyokeres can do the same centrally, becoming that focal point in the box — but with the tools to provide instinctive finishes, something his team-mates aren’t as equipped with.
An impressive sign already is the forward’s early determination to utilise his head more. He failed to score a single headed goal last season, but has already shown an appetite to become an aerial threat. Against Athletic, he scored a header, getting away from his marker to glance Martin Zubimendi’s curling cross into the net. He also struck a post with a diving header later in the match.
The striker offers everything Arsenal have lacked: goals, finishing instinct, and penalty-box nous. In fact, the last time the Gunners finished runners-up in three straight seasons, they went on to lift the league title in 2004.
After a 21-year wait, the arrival of Gyokeres could be the missing piece that finally pushes Arsenal over the line.
