Is Arsenal Striker Viktor Gyökeres Being Unfairly Treated?

There are a lot of questions that surround the situation of Viktor Gyökeres at Arsenal this season. He arrived last summer from Sporting Lisbon and the bar was high. It felt as if the Gunners had finally signed a world-class striker who was going to take the club to another level in terms of goalscoring and winning titles.

He managed to score 21 goals across all competitions and helped Arsenal to a first Premier League title in 22 years, yet the Swedish international has now found himself on the fringes of Mikel Arteta's starting XI despite showing positive signs from the bench when given the chance.

Six league games into the new campaign, where Arsenal seek to defend their title and lift the Premier League for a second consecutive season, Gyökeres is yet to start any one of those games. He has made just three appearances from the bench, amounting to under an hour of game time.

For a striker who scored so many goals last season, that is a massively limited amount of time to make a meaningful impact.

His lack of minutes confuses a lot of fans considering his recent performances with his national side, Sweden. Gyökeres scored in all four of the UEFA Nations League games during the international break. He looked clinical and played with freedom and confidence.

He became the first player to score in seven consecutive Nations League games after finding the net against Romania in the fourth and final game in the break. There are so many examples of players who perform better for their country, but Gyökeres has already proved he can do it for both but isn't currently getting that chance.

What will be frustrating for the Swede is that his recent bench performances in the Premier League have been fairly impressive. He came on against Brighton and helped create a significant opportunity for Kai Havertz, who was through on goal and failed to convert. He then created a couple against Leeds on Saturday, most notably the one in the last seconds for Bukayo Saka, who also couldn't take his chance.

It is extremely clear that Havertz is the preference for Arteta. The German looked set to face some time on the sidelines after suffering an injury against the Netherlands, but ultimately he passed a late fitness test and was thrown straight back into the starting lineup. Arteta will have his reasons, as Havertz offers a completely different range of qualities, but Gyökeres cost Arsenal a lot of money and essentially did what he was brought in to do last season, so a case for him to play more frequently isn't a ridiculous opinion to have.

Arteta may be proved right for keeping Gyökeres benched, as he was on multiple occasions, including the David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale situation in 2023, but if Arsenal are to get the best out of Gyökeres, then he needs to have many more chances to show exactly what he can do.