Analysis: How Viktor Gyokeres could transform Arsenal’s attack

With Arsenal set to finally get their man in Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal fans are starting to wonder just how he will perform.

There was no perfect striker signing we could make, let’s make that clear. Even Alexander Isak, at the price he would cost (circa £150m) would have been a risk. His injuries and lack of historic ability to handle two games a week would make such a significant outlay potentially a mistake. But at about £56m + £14m in potential add ons – Gyokeres is the best deal we could’ve done.

Long-term readers of the newsletter will know I have advocated for Gyokeres on a few occasions. None more so than when I did a deep dive into our striker targets. You can go back and read that issue if it’s of interest, but ultimately, Gyokeres came second only to Isak. Many of those disappointed in the Gyokeres signing preferred Sesko. I think a lot of that was projection.

Sesko right now is not close to the player Gyokeres is. He has potential, but he could go more the way of Dusan Vlahovic than Isak. Sesko finished 5th in my rankings, and you can see how he measured up against Gyokeres below. I took into account league strength (otherwise the difference will have been much greater), eye test and statistical data to score these areas.

So now I wanted to look a little closer at how the Swede would fit in and how we may adapt our attacking setup to make the most out of him.

Let’s be clear, Kai Havertz will still start a lot of games up front. I’m a big Gyokeres fan but Havertz all-around game is top quality and he will be better suited to start in some fixtures. But last season Arsenal had nothing else to offer from the start or from the bench, resorting to Mikel Merino for the second half of the season when Havertz hamstrings buckled under the enormous pressure they’d been put under all season.

Having watched Gyokeres a lot, there are a ton of misconceptions circulating about him across social media. So let’s address them.

Heading ability: Firstly, he’s 6ft 2’, he must be good at heading, right? Well no. That’s one of his weakest areas. His positioning is elite, so he will score some easy headers, but don’t expect him to convert aerially from difficult angles or from distance.

Link-up play: Another misconception, probably formed from him being dubbed ‘big man in the box’, Gyokeres is excellent at linking play. His first touch leaves a lot to be desired, so he’s not brilliant in tight areas, Sesko certainly has quicker feet, but he is a very strong crosser of the ball and uses his body well to bring others into the game – a great focal point and disruptor for others to work off.

He also loves the left channel, so expect, especially in transition, for the Swedish forward to find himself up against opposition right backs, carrying the team forward before whipping in a cross for an Odegaard or Saka to take advantage of. Given Arsenal often invert from left back and left wing, this is an interesting tactical aspect of his arrival.

Arsenal are being linked to players like Eberechi Eze and Rodrygo who would likely play from the left, but want to drift into central zones. You could see Gyokeres working in tandem with one of those players really nicely.

I also think it will see Declan Rice or Merino spend more time centrally from that left eight position – often Rice was taking up positions on the wide left, but this should free him up more to bound between the boxes.

Gyokeres is a huge transition threat. His running power is elite and when he has a bit more space to counter his less appetising close control, he can create huge problems for the opposition. There’s a myth that Arsenal never face this kind of transition opportunity. The reality is we do, several times a game, but that Arsenal have not been setup to create transition threats from this.

Look at Liverpool, they face deep and mid blocks lots of the time, but when they do get a chance to transition, they are devastating. Arsenal’s out-of-possession shape is a 442. The front two players last season were Martin Odegaard and Merino or Havertz. All of these players lack running power and have an instinct to turn back to bring others into play. This allows the opposition to sink back into shape and the transition threat is over. Gyokeres, because of this, and his lack of aerial ability, will be left forward at all times and constantly give Arsenal that threat in transition.

Personally, next season I would love to see this sort of setup in our 442 out of possession – freeing up Saka to use his qualities in more attacking areas, like Mo Salah is allowed. In combination with Gyokeres, Arsenal would be totally transformed as a transition attack out of possession, as pictured below.

In possession – The image below shows one way Arsenal could attack if Gyokeres and Eze were to join – and Eze play from the left. Zubimendi’s arrival is going to free our left back up to invert less and get forward more – MLS or Calafiori can then offer the overlap more, and Gyokeres is really comfortable in the left channel, this will allow somewhat more freedom for our left winger. A player like Eze would really benefit from more of this free role approach in attack and lead to him having a devastating impact.