Following on from last weeks blog about how we are now in the “instant success era“, one criticism I have seen thrown at Viktor Gyokeres by pundits and fans is how he will be a “flat track bully” in the Premier League.
This opinion is based purely on the view that he has only performed in Portugal, and therefore is will only be able to perform against mid-lower league clubs and not the top.
Now, taking away that you need to do some crazy mental gymnastics to build this opinion (and you are basically saying we should never sign a player outside of England, Italy, Germany or Spain as every other league is inferior), I have a question.
Would it be a bad thing if Viktor Gyokeres only performs against those teams 7th and below?
Under Mikel Arteta, our form against “Big 6” teams has been exceptional. For clarity, the above graphic is against Manchester’s City and United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. It excludes Aston Villa and Newcastle – whilst both have performed well the last couple of seasons, they have shared more relegations than trophies in the last decade. Only their own fans think they are big clubs.
22 games unbeaten against the Big 6, averaging 2.18 points per game. If we played 38 games only against the Big 6, that would see us get 83 points, 1 point less than what Liverpool achieved to win the league last season.
We are a long memory away from being spanked by Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea home and away every season, and we now go into these games expecting to win at home and get a draw (at least) away.
Form against the Big 6 is not what has cost us the league title in the last 3 seasons.
Last season (2024/25) we dropped points twice against Bournemouth (two defeats), Brighton (two draws) and Everton (also two draws), whilst also dropped points at home to Crystal Palace, Brentford and Aston Villa.
The year before (2023/24), it was defeat against Aston Villa that led us to no longer be in the driving seat in the race for the title. We lost both games to Villa that season.
We also lost back to back games to Fulham (away) and West Ham (home). We failed to beat Fulham in either game.
And then in 2022/23, our season derailed after we failed to beat West Ham (away draw), Southampton (home draw), Brighton (home defeat) and Nottingham Forst (away defeat) in the last 8 games of the season. We failed to beat Southampton home and away despite them finishing bottom.
It is clear to all and sundry that it was our performances in these “lesser” games that saw cost us league titles, not games against Liverpool or Manchester City, Tottenham or Chelsea. So tell me then, if would Viktor Gyokeres only performing in the games against 7th and below be a bad thing?
A flat track bully who turns up against the West Ham, Southampton’s, Brighton and Fulham’s of this world and scores a bucket load to secure 3-points. And then for the Big 6 games we perform how we have over the least 3 and a bit season and snatch victories based on control, resolute defending and taking our chances when they come (from set pieces).
Now I am not saying that Gyokeres is going to only be a flat tack bully. It seems to have been forgotten that he scored 6 goals in 8 Champions League games last season for Sporting. Including a hat trick against Manchester City. He also has 15 goals in 26 games at international level.
I think Gyokeres will turn out to be a fantastic striker for Arsenal giving time. And if all he ends up doing is scoring bucket loads against those lesser teams, then that might actually be exactly what Arsenal need to win the league!
Keenos