{"id":192,"date":"2026-02-24T05:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=192"},"modified":"2026-02-24T05:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:44:08","slug":"breaking-down-viktor-gyokeres-best-arsenal-performance-can-he-do-it-regularly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"Breaking down Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 best Arsenal performance \u2014 can he do it regularly?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 two goals in the north London derby took him to 15 across all competitions this season, but it was his all-around performance against Tottenham Hotspur that Arsenal have been waiting for.<\/p>\n

Asked whether it was the centre-forward\u2019s best outing for the club, manager Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports: \u201cI think so. His overall play was incredible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the same question was put to Gyokeres, he said: \u201cYeah, in some aspects it was a good one. In some others, I could have done a few things better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There were encouraging signs from the centre-forward\u2019s play, not just his goals, while there were still areas for improvement. For the most part, though, this seemed to be a tangible step forward for a man who has been under scrutiny for large parts of his debut season in north London.<\/p>\n

After several goals inside the penalty area, finally seeing a powerful strike reminiscent of the many he hit for Coventry City and Sporting CP was liberating in a way. He scored from outside the box against Inter last month, but this had the oomph of a real striker\u2019s finish, and one that arguably should have been seen more by this point in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do that a few times in training, and I watched his (Eberechi Eze\u2019s) goals against these lot in the last game so I tried to replicate that a little bit,\u201d Gyokeres said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports \u2014 and there is evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arsenal posted a training video to their YouTube channel the day of the Inter game, where Gyokeres won an end-of-session challenge.<\/p>\n

The rules of the challenge: set the ball inside the D of the box with one touch and finish with the next \u2014 an almost identical setup to his goal against Spurs.<\/p>\n

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Below is the footage of his winning shot in the challenge.<\/p>\n

Arteta has spoken of the need for his players to \u201ctake the shot\u201d wherever the chance presents itself. This was their ninth Premier League goal from outside the box this season, but for Gyokeres, converting from that range goes beyond just Arteta\u2019s words.<\/p>\n

After 20 league appearances (17 starts), the average distance for shots taken by Gyokeres was 12 yards. That was the closest of any season in his professional career to date, and was compounded by the fact that many of these shots were low-quality chances as defenders were close to him as he took aim.<\/p>\n

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He has scored more open-play goals in his last five league games (five) than in his first 21 (three).<\/p>\n

While the average distance of his shots has not changed much, there is much greater variance in his shot location, and ultimately, they have been higher-quality chances.<\/p>\n

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Part of the criticism levelled at the Sweden international has been aimed at his movement off the ball.<\/p>\n

He has been seen either not making a dart into the penalty area or being easily tracked by opposition defenders too often this season, but the first impression he made in the game on Sunday was a lasting one. Early on, he peeled into the left channel, where he was the one in control of the situation. With Radu Dragusin at his mercy, the quick dip inside and shot was a promising sign, even if this one was just wide of the mark.<\/p>\n

It was fitting that he rounded off his performance with a run into the same channel in added time for his second goal of the game, but that was not all he did well on the night.<\/p>\n

Another area for improvement for Gyokeres has been how he combines with his team-mates. There may be an acceptance that he is not the same profile as Kai Havertz or Gabriel Jesus, but there have been times with Gyokeres on the pitch when Arsenal have been crying out for someone to bounce off.<\/p>\n

He provided that platform away to Spurs, which was particularly useful for the second- and third-man runs beyond him from Eze and Bukayo Saka as seen from the examples below that are taken from three separate passages of play.<\/p>\n

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This had a direct impact on the build-up for Arsenal\u2019s third goal, and needs to continue as a theme of Gyokeres\u2019 play for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

While not all of Arsenal\u2019s attacking issues have been down to him, this is an area where he could have helped the team exert more control in games. Havertz is particularly skilled in this regard, and has often been relied on from the start of matches to give Arsenal a foothold in the opposition half, so having another option capable of connecting the frontline will be essential.<\/p>\n

One match does not change everything, though.<\/p>\n

Gyokeres showed improvements in open play, but still struggled when Arsenal went long to him from deep. His inability to make long balls from David Raya stick allowed Wolves to grow into the game at Molineux, and could have done the same away at Spurs if the hosts were willing to truly take Arsenal on.<\/p>\n

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There will also be the caveat that seven of Gyokeres\u2019 10 league goals have come against the bottom six. He is also yet to score a league goal against a team in the top nine, though he did score against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n

Even so, none of the striker\u2019s performances have been as comprehensive as this one against Spurs. He also had a major impact out of possession, tracking back on Dragusin to stop a Tottenham attack in the first half and then keeping them penned in their own half as the clock ticked closer to 90 minutes. This wasn\u2019t a shift that would be praised simply because \u2018he made an effort\u2019 but because he had a direct impact in multiple aspects of play.<\/p>\n

That has to be the blueprint to build from for Gyokeres.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 two goals in the north London derby took him to 15 across all competitions this season, but it was his all-around performance against Tottenham Hotspur that Arsenal have … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}