Ian Wright launches rant at those who've slammed Arsenal summer signing – 'It means f*** all'

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has hit out at the "two-bob centre-forwards" who criticised Viktor Gyokeres following the Swede's underwhelming display in the Gunners' victory over Manchester United.

Gyokeres, 27, completed a £63.7million switch to the Emirates Stadium this summer and now shoulders the expectations of Arsenal supporters hoping he can help deliver the Premier League title after three successive runner-up campaigns.

Nevertheless, Gyokeres was substituted after 60 minutes at Old Trafford during Arsenal's 1-0 win and failed to trouble the goalkeeper with a single effort. It represents uncharted waters for the Swede, who netted 97 times in 102 appearances for Sporting CP.

Arsenal's new striker inevitably attracted condemnation from certain pundits for his below-par showing and in the subsequent days afterwards, reports the Mirror. Manager Mikel Arteta also suggested the forward needs time to gel with his new team-mates.

Yet, speaking on Arsenal podcast, 'Arsecast', Wright hit back at Gyokeres' critics, and has thrown his full support behind the striker to flourish in north London. "What I would say to him, bro, embrace this," Wright said.

"Because I tell you, Viktor Gyokeres being part of Arsenal winning the title again after so many years, with the pressure he's under now, the discourse... the people I'm seeing, two-bob centre forwards on whatever it is – I won't mention where they are – talking about him like, yeah, he's a flat-track bully, whatever it is, it means f*** all, because he's where he wants to be.

"Now, it's up to him, go and get it. Just go and get it."

Wright is confident that once Gyokeres settles into the squad, it's only a matter of time before he finds his scoring form at Arsenal.

Wright added: "I think that obviously as a striker, and I've been there, and I'm going to Arsenal, in that first game, you'd probably want to show a little bit of what you're capable of – get a chance, half chance, maybe take it if you're fortunate.

"And even if you play like Viktor Gyokeres played against United, and he didn't really show much, if we're going to be totally honest, we saw good running into the channels, good strength and stuff like that.

"But in respect of what we're going to need, we didn't really see that. Now, that's a combination of him getting used to the team, the team getting used to him, and Man United causing us a lot of problems.

"Viktor Gyokeres has got to understand he's now at the place and, this is what I had to realise with Arsenal, he's now at the place where all that work, all that ignoring of him when he was scoring goals in different places thinking he's going to get the move, get the next move to get to where he wants to be. All that is done, because now he's at the place. So now it's on Viktor."

Reflecting on his own journey to Arsenal and the pressure of his high-profile move from Crystal Palace in 1991, Wright said: "I've never felt so afraid and Viktor will be feeling the same. But then it's down to you to draw on that, the hard work, the ignoring of you, the fact that people don't think that you're as good as you think you are.

"And you've got to continue to do that in the dark. He's here, so it's now up to him to go out there and show what all that hard work is about.

"So I would say to him, even if he scored and got taken off, it'd still be for me something where he'd say, 'Well, I'm pleased I scored there, but like, okay, I could do better,' but the team weren't functioning as well. He's just got to go back into the headspace of what he does when his chances do come."