A lot of the talk from Arsenal’s win over Newcastle United was on Viktor Gyokeres, even though the striker didn’t play.
Arsenal announced the signing of Gyokeres one day before the fixture, as the Swede then travelled to Singapore to join his new teammates.
Though fans didn’t get to see the striker in action, Gyokeres did make his way onto the pitch for the first time as an Arsenal player, being unveiled to the fans in Asia.
Mikel Arteta wanted a striker in before the pre-season tour and, despite Gyokeres arriving slightly behind schedule, there’s a good chance that he’ll feature before Arsenal return to England.
Mikel Arteta confirms when Viktor Gyokeres could make his Arsenal debut
There is one game of Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Asia remaining.
For the first time ever there will be a pre-season North London derby, as Arsenal and Tottenham prepare to battle it out in a non-competitive environment.
Speaking after Arsenal’s 3-2 win over Newcastle United in Singapore, Arteta revealed whether Gyokeres could make his debut against Spurs.
“Well I think he hasn’t had a single training session with the team since the last game with Sporting when they became champions,” the Arsenal manager explained.
“We will assess him tomorrow, he’s done all the medicals, everything is looking good. To get him up to speed with the right levels of fitness I think is very important.
“So we’re not going to stop him and obviously we want him with us as quick as possible but we’ll have to assess and the medical team will do that.”
It would be written in the stars for Gyokeres to make his debut and score against Arsenal’s bitter rivals, with the possibility there for the 27-year-old.
The new signing is already thinking about scoring for Arsenal, something that could happen as soon as the end of the month.
North London derby or Emirates debut for Gyokeres
After Gyokeres fell out with Sporting CP, the Sweden international stayed away from training with his former club, meaning he’s had a sizeable rest.
There’s a good chance that the striker could make the Arsenal team sheet against Spurs, but if not, there’s another exciting possibility.
After the Spurs game, Arsenal will head back to London, where at the Emirates, the Gunners will face Villarreal and then Athletic Bilbao.
Gyokeres is set to earn his debut either against Spurs or at the Emirates, where fans in N5 will get their first sighting of the new number 14.
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