Adrian Clarke has admitted that he’s somewhat concerned by one Arsenal player after his performance against West Ham.
Mikel Arteta’s team strolled to a 2-0 victory against the Hammers, courtesy of a strike from Declan Rice and a penalty from Bukayo Saka.
The result sees the Gunners move to the top of the Premier League table ahead of the international break after Liverpool were beaten by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
Despite the mood music being overwhelmingly positive at Arsenal right now, there are some concerns around one particular player’s performances.
Adrian Clarke says Viktor Gyokeres was ‘a bit off it’ against West Ham
Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres for £63 million in the summer.
The Swede was brought in to score goals for the Gunners and help them bridge the gap with Liverpool, and he’s so far found the back of the net three times in a red and white shirt.
However, he hasn’t scored in any of his last six appearances, and Saka took the penalty away from the prolific number nine on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Arsenal pundit Clarke said that he was somewhat worried about Arteta’s overwhelmingly positive comments on Gyokeres after his off-colour display against West Ham.
“Does that worry you a little bit in any way in the sense that he’s [Arteta] basically putting an arm around him [Gyokeres] and going, listen, we appreciate you, even if they don’t, sort of vibe?” presenter Ian Stone asked.
“Yeah, I mean, yeah, Saka was asked about it, Arteta was asked about it, and they were asked about it because he didn’t have his best game and he didn’t score again,” Clarke responded.
“So I thought he was brilliant against Newcastle and Olympiakos. I thought they were both proper centre forward performances. In this game, hand on heart, I think he was a bit off it. He fell over a lot in those duels. He wasn’t really winning them.
“This is when Kai Havertz would come on after 60 minutes, right? Or possibly even start a game or two. Look, no one ran further than Gyokeres in the game. He does put in a heck of a shift. And not for the first time this season, he covered an enormous amount of ground.
“But I don’t think he really linked play that well in this game. And when the chances came around, he didn’t take them. There was the header from Saka’s cross that glanced off his head.”
Viktor Gyokeres needs Kai Havertz to be fit to get the best out of him
As Clarke alluded to, Gyokeres looked tired against West Ham after covering so much ground and making so many intense sprints in behind.
The 27-year-old played 90 minutes in each of the Gunners’ three games last week, and this clearly looked like it took its toll.
Kai Havertz is currently recovering from a knee injury sustained at the start of the season, meaning Arteta has been forced to select Gyokeres in every single match thus far, with Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard only occasionally sparing him minutes late on in games.
The Sweden international’s game relies on running in behind the opposition defence repeatedly, and he’ll subsequently continue to struggle if he’s forced to play this volume of minutes.
He needs Havertz to be fit to rotate with him if Arsenal are to maximise his potential.
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