ESPN pundit Steve Nicole has urged Mikel Arteta to drop Viktor Gyokeres from the Arsenal starting XI. He believes that the striker has not improved since joining the club and should be down the pecking order.
Speaking on ESPN FC, Nicole said that Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, and Mikel Merino have shown that they can lead the attack for Arsenal, and they should be the ones starting for the club. He added that Gyokeres has not managed to do anything right in the six months at the club and said:
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“Viktor Gyokeres has been giving six months now. Mikel Arteta has giving him six months to separate himself from [Gabriel] Jesus, [Kai] Havertz and [Mikel] Merino. I was trying to defend him at the start because the way Arsenal play isn’t exactly helpful for a centre forward but I still thought he was good enough to score goals. I thought he was good enough to get some goals out of nothing but so far he hasn’t been able to do any of those things and he hasn’t been able to separate himself from Jesus, Havertz or Merino.”
Nicole went on to state that Gyokeres has failed to do anything off the ball as well. He urged Arteta to use Jesus and Havertz as his starting options, as they can help build things up for teammates on the pitch and said:
“So if you’re Mikel Arteta before every game you’ve got a decision to make. Gyokeres should actually probably be going to the back of the queue now because you have to contribute somewhere and he’s not at the moment. With Jesus and Havertz, they absolutely contribute outside of the box. So I said he hasn’t separated himself from the other forwards, he might actually be at the bottom of the pile right now.”
Gyokeres played 70 minutes for Arsenal on Tuesday, February 3 in the Carabao Cup semifinal second leg and managed just 10 touches. He finished with one shot, which was of target, and one accurate pass in his time on the pitch.
Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres in the summer to lead the attack
Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP in the summer after his impressive season in Portugal. He scored 39 goals in the league, leading to the Gunners paying £64 million for the Sweden international.
However, he has failed to impress at the Emirates, scoring just six goals in 22 Premier League matches. He has another five goals in nine appearances in the UEFA Champions League and the Carabao Cup.
Edited by Sripad
