Viktor Gyokeres already tipped to be REPLACED at Arsenal

Troy Deeney believes that Kai Havertz will replace summer signing Viktor Gyokeres in Arsenal’s preferred starting XI for the “bigger games” this season.

Gyokeres, 27, joined Arsenal for an initial fee of €65.8 million from Sporting CP in late July, following a lengthy negotiation process, and he has scored three goals in his first four competitive games for the club.

The Sweden international has started all four of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures so far this season and he netted a brace against Leeds United on 23 August, before adding to his tally with a strike versus Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

However, Gyokeres failed to find the target in matches against Manchester United and Liverpool, and this is why Deeney believes he will fail to win the Premier League Golden Boot this term.

It’s also why the ex-Watford striker feels as though Havertz will replace Gyokeres for the biggest games of the season.

Viktor Gyokeres to be replaced at Arsenal?

“I don’t think he scores enough goals to beat [Erling] Haaland, to beat [Mohamed] Salah or [Alexander] Isak. I don’t think he scores more than Joao Pedro over the course of the year,” Deeney told talkSPORT.

He added: “I just think when you look over the totality of his career, he doesn’t score in the big games consistently, and that’s what Arsenal are going to need.

“So, when they played against Man Utd… This is perfect because in my family now, because of my wife’s side, loads of Arsenal fans. So when they played Man Utd, can’t get any of them on the phone, they all go missing.

“The week after against Leeds, he [Gyokeres] scores two, they’re phoning my phone, so it’s like this big thing that keeps [going] up and down.

“He didn’t do anything against Liverpool, but they’re the games they brought him in for.

“Even if you don’t score, you’re a nuisance, you’re a threat, you make other people say, ‘Right, we need to deal with you,’ which opens up space for [Bukayo] Saka, [Eberechi] Eze, [Noni] Madueke, whoever it is.

“I just think in those moments, it’s where he’s going to fall short and I think in those bigger games, when everyone is up to speed, Havertz will play in those games, I really do.”

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