Viktor Gyokeres struggled to make an impact on his competitive debut for Arsenal against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
The Swede took no shots, created no chances and completed just four passes in his 60 minutes on the pitch at Old Trafford, before being replaced by Kai Havertz.
Despite this muted display from the new signing, Arsenal ran out 1-0 winners courtesy of a close range header from Riccardo Calafiori.
The result means the Gunners do not lose any ground on either of their Premier League title rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City, on the opening weekend of the season.
Craig Burley says Viktor Gyokeres will get fed up if Arsenal don’t play to his strengths
Gyokeres completed a £63 million move to Arsenal from Sporting CP this summer.
Acquired primarily to score goals, the Swede drew a blank in his first appearance in a red and white shirt on Sunday.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer criticised Gyokeres’ display against the Red Devils, feeling he didn’t do enough to try and impact the game.
However, this harsh outlook on the player’s first outing in the English top flight wasn’t echoed by ESPN pundit Craig Burley.
Speaking on ESPN in the aftermath of the clash, Burley said Arsenal need to learn to play to Gyokeres’ strengths, otherwise he’ll grow frustrated by a lack of service.
“The other situation that I noticed a lot, this [striker situation] is going to be the change for Arsenal,” he said.
“I think City had this problem but have figured it out with Haaland – when you’ve got a big guy who is making runs into the box, you don’t need to be prodding it around the box to Martin Odegaard, to Saka.
“I was watching Gyokeres try to make runs off the back of defenders; they’re not putting the ball in.
“That’s not part of their game, they’re used to going back to midfield, back to Rice, then switch it, if you’re a striker, you’ll get so, so annoyed because you’ll get fed up making run after run and the ball doesn’t come in.”
Viktor Gyokeres will need time to settle in at Arsenal
Burley is right; Arsenal will need time to acclimatise to Gyokeres’ style of play, and vice versa.
The Gunners have been used to playing with Havertz in recent years, a focal point centre-forward who likes to drop deep and receive the ball to feet.
Gyokeres doesn’t fit this mould, as he’s instead inclined to immediately make a run in behind when his team has possession.
| Viktor Gyokeres’ Statistics vs Man Utd | |
| Minutes Played | 60 |
| Touches | 22 |
| Shots | 0 |
| Expected Goals | 0 |
| Key Passes | 0 |
| Accurate Passes | 4/9 (44%) |
| Touches in Opposition Box | 3 |
| Tackles and Interceptions | 0 |
The key to unlocking his goalscoring threat is to quickly find him in the space behind opposition backlines.
This requires the likes of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka to completely rethink how direct they are when receiving the ball in broken play.
If the Gunners can master these automatisms, they should be able to get the best out of Gyokeres.
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