‘Not good enough’ – Arsenal look like they’re playing with ten men but all could be forgiven with Premier League title

Viktor Gyokeres needs to improve, but all will be forgiven if Arsenal win the Premier League title, according to the Inside Gooners panel.

On the latest edition of talkSPORT’s dedicated show about Arsenal, Darren Bent, Perry Groves and Adrian Clarke all discussed the Swedish striker’s season so far.

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Gyokeres has eight goals in all competitions for Arsenal this term, five of which have come in the Premier League.

This makes him the Gunners’ second-top goalscorer, but after splashing out on the forward, people are expecting more.

It looked as if he’d turned a corner during the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea with a goal and an assist.

However, the Sweden international followed it up with another disappointing Premier League display during the Gunners’ 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The striker had ten touches and wasted a good opportunity in the first half when he couldn’t get away from Murillo following a mistake by the Brazilian.

He lasted just 57 minutes before Mikel Arteta turned to Gabriel Jesus.

However, for Arsenal fans, they may be more forgiving for Gyokeres’ lack of goals should they win the league.

But Bent won’t be one of them, as he revealed his high expectations of Gyokeres on Inside Gooners.

Bent said: “I feel for him because you can clearly see he is trying hard to score goals. Sometimes, he doesn’t put himself in the right areas to score goals. There is not a connection between him and Saka.

“If I was in his position, I’d still want to play every single game because I’d want to score goals.

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“At times, it does look like Arsenal are playing with ten men. Ten touches in 57 minutes isn’t good enough.”

Clarke then asked: “Do you think he’s making the right runs?”

Bent replied: “You know what, if he isn’t going to link play, then anything in the six-yard-box, he has to be there, and he’s not doing that.

“When I played, managers would forgive me for not linking play because they knew I’d be in the six-yard-box tapping them in.

“But if he’s not going to do either of those things, then that is what worries me.

“He looks to me as if he’s starting to lose belief in what got him the move in the first place.”

And ex-Arsenal winger Groves feels the pressure is getting to Gyokeres.

“I think he’s tense,” Groves said.

“When I am watching him play, he’s not playing free.

“If the crowd is on you a little bit, I don’t care what anybody says, it affects you.

“You can tell that all the other players want him to do well because you hear good reports about him in training and about his character. You saw when he scored against Chelsea, everyone celebrated with him.

“But because he’s not playing freely and well; he hasn’t got the authority to say to Declan Rice to get the ball into the channels or into the box.”

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Clarke then made an interesting point about his teammates accepting the Swede.

“Do you not think he is craving acceptance from his teammates,” Clarke said.

“I think until you’ve had that moment where you have really made the difference in a big game.

“I know he scored against Chelsea, but he didn’t kick on. I think he knows his teammates don’t fully trust him yet.

“Odegaard looks at him game in, game out, and he doesn’t play it.

“I feel for him, but I still think who would you rather have up front?

“Would you rather have Jesus? For me, no, and then, you are looking at Havertz who has been injured, and Merino, who we are all saying that isn’t his position.”

However, Bent felt if he was in Gyokeres’ shoes and Merino, a midfielder by trade, got the nod to start up top ahead of him, ‘you lose me totally’.

“But I do like the way Arteta is managing him, but at some point, Viktor has to stand up on his own two feet,” Bent said.

Groves interjected: “He’s gone from being Sporting Lisbon’s main man; it’s another two levels up, so he’s just scratching about.

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“I don’t care if Gyokeres gets eight to ten Premier League goals, and we win the Premier League – it’s been a brilliant signing.

“People forget when Chelsea won the Premier League in 2004/05, Didier Drogba scored ten Premier League goals, and he had a reputation for not being physical and falling over all the time.

“But I know exactly how he is feeling because of the way his body language is. He’s probably got to be a little more demanding.”

Place under threat?

Arsenal have drawn back-to-back Premier League games 0-0, with a lot of their attacking players on goal droughts.

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But Jesus is back and so is Havertz, so there is a possibility that we could see Gyokeres replaced if he continues to not score.

Certainly, that is what Groves thinks.

Speaking on Hawksbee and Jacobs on Tuesday, the ex-Arsenal winger said: “I don’t think he’s feeling that confident at the minute. But you can tell that he’s got the backing of all of his teammates because of how hard he works.

“He ain’t going to be a link-up player. He ain’t going to be one who drops deep and looks like Kai Havertz who’s very easy on the eye.

“After spreading the goals around the team, he needs to go on a little run where you get four goals in the next five games. If he doesn’t, Kai Havertz is coming back fit.

“You mentioned Gabriel Jesus is fit. Mikel Merino can play up there as well. There’s loads of different options.”