Ben White makes honest Viktor Gyokeres claim as Arsenal title challenge clear

Ben White has heaped praise on Viktor Gyokeres after the Arsenal striker found the net against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup

Ben White believes Viktor Gyokeres "does not get the credit that he deserves" after the Swede scored his eighth goal of the season in Arsenal's win over Chelsea.

The right-back made his second consecutive appearance for the Gunners at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night and opened the scoring with a well-taken header from a Declan Rice corner.

The 28-year-old then set up Gyokeres minutes into the second half as his low cross into the box went through the hands of Robert Sanchez, leaving the former Sporting CP man to tap into an empty net.

"We always want to play quickly," White explained after the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg win.

"It's when we can be in those one-on-one situations which is amazing for us. I knew that Vik was going to be waiting in there, and I literally just fired it across as hard as I could, really.

"It's amazing [for Gyokeres to score]. You see how much he works during the game, and he doesn't get the credit that he deserves, and yeah it's amazing for him to score tonight."

Alejandro Garnacho did pull one back for the home side shortly after Gyokeres' goal, but Martin Zubimendi lashed Arsenal's third into the corner after more good work by the Sweden international. Only one goal separated the sides come the full-time whistle, though, with Garnacho scoring a second and making the second leg at Emirates Stadium on February 3 all the more interesting.

"Obviously we're delighted with the win, we didn't play as well as we probably could have, and the transitions we probably didn't handle as well as we should've," White said.

"But, yeah, we scored three, won the game, and it's onto the next one now - we need to win that."

The Gunners have a three-day turnaround as they take on Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table.

"We're ready to go again. We'll move onto the next game - that's our aim," White added.

"The fans were amazing; they're always amazing. It's no shock that they come here and you can hear them all night, so yeah, we all really appreciate it."