In the battle of the strikers, Erling Haaland showed Viktor Gyokeres up in Arsenal’s draw with Manchester City.
Ahead of the game, Man City would’ve been wary of Gyokeres after the 27-year-old’s hat-trick against Pep Guardiola’s side in the Champions League last season.
The world watched as Gyokeres pulled City apart with Sporting CP, but when the striker met Guardiola’s squad as an Arsenal player, things were entirely different.
Gyokeres has been isolated countless times already this season, and the same issue occurred against City, but, contrary to belief, the Swede’s time on the pitch actually amounted to something decisive.
Viktor Gyokeres’ role in Gabriel Martinelli’s equaliser is being overlooked
Rob Green accused Gyokeres of being ‘way off it’ during the fixture, calling out the striker for not getting on the end of crosses in the first half.
Granted, things didn’t go to plan for the summer signing in terms of finding the net, but the Sweden international did something just as impactful in the dying embers.
When Gabriel Martinelli was looking for Eberechi Eze to play the ball over the top, Gyokeres was locked in to the passage of play, but not in a way that many would expect.
The forward was seen lurking ahead of City’s incredibly high back line, meaning that the defence could not leave him be, but Gyokeres was one step ahead.
The former Sporting CP talisman knew the ball was going to Martinelli, so he gave himself a significant head start in the instance that the ball would come his way later in the sequence.
By positioning himself where he did, Gyokeres stretched City’s defence and forced Guardiola’s back line into playing so high, all whilst making himself available for Martinelli.
The Swede’s off-ball movement was critical to give Arsenal the equaliser, work that has been entirely overlooked due to how efficiently Martinelli put the chance away.
Gyokeres’ impact had to come off the ball
What will be a focal point is that Gyokeres was absent from large spells of the game, recording the fewest number of touches from any outfield player who played 90 minutes.
| Viktor Gyokeres vs Man City |
| 22 touches |
| 6 passes |
| 6 touches in opp box |
| 0 shots |
As seen by his numbers, it was an underwhelming outing for the 27-year-old, who only managed to have six touches in the opposition box.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta acknowledged that what is missing is the service that Gyokeres needs to receive from his teammates.
“He’s certainly trying his best and trying to do that, and we have to provide more for him; that’s it.
“There were a lot of situations where the chances were there, and then the final pass was missing today. In many moments, it was very, very open.”
It wasn’t a game that Gyokeres could impact, not necessarily by any fault of his own, as on the day, Arsenal lacked tremendously when creating chances to score.
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