1 hour ago
18
Viktor Gyokeres has been handed an Arsenal award after six goal contributions in his last seven appearances with William Saliba showing his support
William Saliba has shown his support for Viktor Gyokeres after a big Arsenal announcement. It has been a challenging first six months in north London for the Swedish striker, but he has shown glimpses of his quality in front of goal.
From 31 appearances in all competitions, he has managed 11 goals and two assists with his minutes reducing as of late following returns for Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz . Despite that, nearly half of those goal contributions arrived in January with it therefore hardly surprising he was named player of the month.
Arsenal confirmed the award, in collaboration with Gyokeres, on Instagram as they wrote: "Our Player of the Month for January, as voted for by you... Viktor Gyokeres." Saliba was quick to respond as he liked the social media post just a few hours after it was uploaded.
Arguably his best performance over that period was the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea when he reacted quickest to swoop home a loose ball before assisting Martin Zubimendi minutes later. Mikel Arteta was asked about the 27-year-old in his post-match press conference.
FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE!** Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page**
Following that 3-2 victory, the Arsenal boss said: "I think he had a really good performance. Overall, I think what he brings to the team. It's a lot, sometimes I understand that people cannot appreciate it, we certainly do that and on top of that he got rewarded with a goal."
The Gunners won the second leg earlier this week to seal a spot in the final at Wembley where they will play Manchester City. Having bypassed the Champions League play-off round, their league fixture on the weekend of the Carabao Cup final against Wolves has been brought forward.
That will now be played on Wednesday, February 18, in between an FA Cup fourth round clash with Wigan Athletic and the North London Derby away to Tottenham. Before those games, Arsenal host Sunderland this afternoon at Emirates Stadium.
Though all three of the players Arteta can deploy up front are available, attacking injury woes have hit in recent weeks with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka expected to miss out.
Arteta said of the duo on Friday: "His [Saka] hip is getting much better, so hopefully, very soon, he will be with us. Martin again, he's getting better, it will be a matter of days we believe and he'll be fine."
There were also concerns sparked over Jurrien Timber when he was missing from open training on Thursday. However, Arteta later confirmed he was fine and that was proven the case when he appeared in training pictures uploaded to Arsenal's website just under 24 hours before kick-off.
Granit Xhaka is one key player set to miss the clash and thus a reunion with his former club because of an ankle injury, as confirmed be Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris.
He said in late January: “Granit is doing well. He will have another assessment in one week, so from there we will see where he is and define the next steps. It will probably be about three more weeks."
English (US) ·