Wayne Rooney says what Viktor Gyokeres kept doing vs Fulham was ‘very clever’

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal put in perhaps their best performance of 2026 against Fulham.

The Gunners put in a dominant showing against the Whites, they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half, before taking their foot off the gas and easing into the second-half.

Viktor Gyokeres will take the headlines for his goals and assist against Fulham, but Wayne Rooney’s analysis on Match of the Day showed that his performance was built on much more than just finishing.

Gyokeres scored twice and set up another, delivering one of his most complete displays in an Arsenal shirt. The goals will be remembered, but it was the detail in his movement that stood out most.

Wayne Rooney hails Viktor Gyokeres’ movement vs Fulham

Rooney summed it up perfectly in his breakdown of Gyokeres’ performance.

The pundit says Gyokeres’ movement was very clever as he found a way to evade his defender by finding small spaces, claiming that he was doing this all day long.

“So normally you see forwards wanting that space in the penalty box, but what he does here, which is really clever, he almost goes and marks himself,” Rooney said.

“He gets really tight with the Fulham defender and now his run is smaller. So if Saka crossed that ball in right here, it’s a one-yard run and then he gets across the defender, but he doesn’t. Great skill by Saka.

“He readjusts his body. Now he’s in full control of the defender. The defender’s flat footed, and again it’s a one-yard run. He wrestled with the defender. But that little one yard run gets him in the middle of the goal for a nice tap in and his movement was very clever today all day.

“And as we see right here this running behind good centre-forward play keeping the Fulham defenders on their toes.”

That explanation highlights what made Gyokeres so effective.

Instead of drifting into space, he stayed close to his marker and controlled the situation. By doing that, he reduced everything to quick, sharp movements rather than long runs. That made it almost impossible for the defender to react in time.

So often this season, Gyokeres has been doing this the wrong way around, trying to burst away with lung-busting runs rather than making quick darts in small spaces to get big chances.

After almost a season’s worth of struggles, Gyokeres may finally have figured out how to use his talents properly in the Premier League.