Troy Deeney says he noticed something really worrying about Viktor Gyokeres vs Man Utd, ‘if you look…’

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Viktor Gyokeres endured a difficult first game in Arsenal colours on Sunday away at Manchester United.

Arsenal kicked off their Premier League season with a 1-0 win over their north-west rivals, with Riccardo Calafiori’s 13th-minute header the difference between the two sides.

While they claimed all three points, Mikel Arteta’s team were far from their best on the day, struggling to control the match in any way.

Gyokeres failed to make an impact and was eventually hooked on the hour mark, replaced by Kai Havertz.

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Troy Deeney says Viktor Gyokeres is ‘not the answer’ for Arsenal

Arsenal signed Gyokeres for £63 million this summer.

The Swede scored 54 goals in 52 games across all competitions for Sporting CP last season, and thus, he arrived in N5 with an impressive pedigree.

Despite this outstanding goal-scoring record, many expressed concern over how Gyokeres’ form would translate in the Premier League, and based on his first outing in the English top flight, these fears appear to be valid.

Completing just four passes, taking no shots and creating no chances, it was a very below-par debut for the 27-year-old.

The performance has prompted Troy Deeney to question the player’s movement and claim that he’s ‘not the answer’ for Arsenal.

“I said it a couple of months ago now, Gyokeres is not the answer,” Deeney said on talkSPORT.

“I know it’s only one game in, and people say he’s rusty, but if you look at his movement, the way he was running. There was an instant where he went through one against one and stood on the ball.

“It’s just, for me, I think we’re going to see Havertz start more games than you will Gyokeres over the course of the season.”

Havertz was introduced in the 60th minute and certainly made more of an impact that his Swedish counterpart did.

The German held the ball up excellently on a handful of occasions and provided the Gunners with a release valve through his physicality.

Viktor Gyokeres needs more time to prove himself

Gyokeres has only played 60 minutes of Premier League football, and thus, Deeney and others should reserve judgement for the time being.

It’s reasonable to have concerns about certain aspects of his game, but he’s also scored an astounding volume of goals in the last two seasons and was bought for £63 million for a reason.

Arsenal are still learning to play with their new number nine, with the chemistry not quite cohesive enough at the present moment.

Once the midfielders and wide players understand how he operates, and that he wants the ball fed to him as early and quickly as possible in behind, then the goals will inevitably start to come.

For now, it’s very harsh to immediately cast such a brutal and definitive judgment like Deeney has.