Arteta defends ‘007 Gyokeres’ as Havertz could replace Arsenal flop

Mikel Arteta has defended Viktor Gyokeres after the Arsenal striker extended his scoreless streak to seven games.

Gyokeres hit another blank in Arsenal‘s 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday.

That means that Gyokeres has now failed to score in seven straight games for the Gunners, with his last goal in any competition being against Nottingham Forest on September 13.

Indeed, he has failed to score or assist in nine straight games for club and country since that strike against Forest.

But his poor form has been defended by Arsenal manager Arteta.

What did Arteta say?

“He was very close today again, two or three times. We were all begging for him to score. The work rate he puts in for the team is phenomenal, so we try to give him support and love and it will come,” Arteta said after the match.

“He has not been a top striker in all of his career. His journey had bumps in the road. And when you go to a level, you’re going to have this, it doesn’t go like this (motions a constant upward curve).

“I haven’t seen that for any player, except one or two in history. So get ready and deal with it with naturally, and obviously with all the support that he has from us.

“Viktor adds so many things, that probably are not noticeable. He creates environment and space and solutions to a lot of the players around him. And with the talent that we have in the team, I’m sure that everybody, him included, will benefit from that.”

Gyokeres’ poor form has led to reports that he could be dropped for Kai Havertz soon, with the Germany star closing in on a return to fitness after a long-term injury.

Indeed, the likes of Gary Neville and Troy Deeney are among high-profile pundits to suggest that Gyokeres may be more suited against smaller teams while the more technically-gifted Havertz more suited to play against bigger sides.

Gyokeres was involved in one of the transfer sagas of the summer, going to war with Sporting Lisbon before eventually completing a €73.5 million transfer to Arsenal.

Gyokeres was the hottest striking property around going into the summer after having an incredible season, scoring 54 goals in 52 games in all competitions, and leading Sporting to another league title.

This followed on from his brilliant form from the previous season for Sporting where he scored 43 goals in all competitions for his club.

So far at Arsenal, he has not reached those heights, although he did find the net three times for Arsenal prior to this bad run.

Football transfer news headlines today

Amorim stance on €50m Man Utd flop revealed amid midfield struggles

Chelsea make feelings clear about €56m transfer after fan criticism over poor form

Liverpool given January transfer boost as Crystal Palace confirm Guehi contract decision

Man Utd leave Kobbie Mainoo RAGING with January transfer decision

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store