Arsenal discover harsh Viktor Gyokeres truth amid early Hugo Ekitike impact at Liverpool

The opening Premier League weekend for Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike couldn't have gone more differently.

Liverpool's £79million summer signing scored the first goal of the 2025/26 Premier League season on Friday night, powering through the Bournemouth backline before firing past Djordje Petrovic. The 23-year-old impressed under the lights at Anfield, adding an assist for Cody Gakpo before being replaced by Curtis Jones with 72 minutes on the clock.

Gyokeres, on the other hand, struggled against Manchester United on Sunday. The Swedish striker, signed by Arsenal from Sporting CP in a deal worth £63.5million, failed to make an impact at Old Trafford. Mikel Arteta had seen enough with an hour played and brought Kai Havertz on in Gyokeres' place.

To be fair to Gyokeres, an away match against Manchester United is never an easy place to make your Premier League debut. When you take into consideration the 27-year-old has not had much of a pre-season as he waited for the Gunners to finalise a deal, a slow start is probably to be expected.

Interestingly, data from BOYLE Sports shows exactly how Ekitike and Gyokeres fared on their debuts this weekend. The young Frenchman, who is 14/1 to finish as the top scorer this season, completed 21 passes, had four shots (two of which were on target), and also grabbed the assist for Gakpo's goal in the first half.

Gyokeres, on the other hand, completed nine passes and failed to have a single shot at goal, created zero chances and all in all was largely ineffective. In fact, Gyokeres only had 22 touches and Arteta will be hoping the striker can find his form quickly at Emirates Stadium.

Asked for his verdict on Gyokeres, Arteta said: "Well, he did a lot of things very good. You can tell, especially in our high-pressing rhythm that we demand that, especially in the first hour. Again, he took too much time.

"It's something that we have to work on him, especially there. And then, yeah, finalising situation, he didn't have that many chances to do that because, as I said, on the previous action, before we had to play that last ball that the line was standing still with 40 metres behind, we then managed to put the ball through to exploit his quality. But overall, I mean, coming away to Manchester United, winning your first game with Arsenal, it's a good start."

Arsenal host Leeds United at Emirates Stadium on Saturday and you would think that is the perfect fixture for Gyokeres to find some form. The Swede did score 52 goals in all competitions for Sporting last campaign and will want to get off the mark for his new club as soon as possible to calm any potential nerves.

Ekitike, who also scored against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, will likely start for Arne Slot's side against Newcastle next Monday and will be hoping to add to his goal tally once more. It will certainly be fascinating to discover who out of Gyokeres and Ekitike has the more prolific season come May.

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