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Viktor Gyokeres had another night to forget as Arsenal defeated Chelsea in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final
Mikel Arteta has been told to put Viktor Gyokeres at the 'bottom of the pile' following an 'embarrassing' performance in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Chelsea. The 27-year-old striker was bailed out by Kai Havertz at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, with his replacement coming off the bench to finish the job.
In the dying embers of stoppage time, the former Blues striker put the final nail in the coffin and secured the Gunners a place in the Carabao Cup final. Arsenal will face either Manchester City or Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium next month, and Arteta has been urged to put Gyokeres at the 'back of the queue'.
"Viktor Gyokeres has been giving six months now," Steve Nicol told ESPN after the game. "Mikel Arteta has given him six months to separate himself from [Gabriel] Jesus, [Kai] Havertz and [Mikel] Merino.
"I was trying to defend him at the start because the way Arsenal play isn’t exactly helpful for a centre forward, but I still thought he was good enough to score goals.
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"I thought he was good enough to get some goals out of nothing, but so far he hasn’t been able to do any of those things, and he hasn’t been able to separate himself from Jesus, Havertz or Merino.
"So if you’re Mikel Arteta, before every game you’ve got a decision to make. Gyokeres should actually probably be going to the back of the queue now because you have to contribute somewhere, and he’s not at the moment.
"With Jesus and Havertz, they absolutely contribute outside of the box. So I said he hasn’t separated himself from the other forwards, he might actually be at the bottom of the pile right now."
Gyokeres only managed 10 touches, with only one of which coming in the first 30 minutes, before getting hooked midway through the second half. The Sweden international, whom Arsenal signed from Sporting for £64million in the summer, also only completed one pass and took just one shot.
When asked whether Gyokeres' performance against Chelsea will cast doubt over his future in the starting lineup, Stewart Robson said: "It certainly does because Gyokeres once again did only okay.
"The commentator said he only touched the ball once in the first 30 minutes, and that tells you he either wasn’t making enough runs or his teammates weren’t looking forward enough.
"It’s probably both, but you want him to be more involved in the game; he’s got to run the channels and be stronger when the ball comes up to him."
Comparing Gyokeres to Joao Pedro, the former Arsenal midfielder said: "When the ball went the other way, Joao Pedro did more than Gyokeres did. He doesn’t seem to be able to hold the ball up at the moment and bring others into play, whereas Joao Pedro did it quite often for Chelsea.
"There’s still some work for him to do. Last year, we were saying Kai Havertz isn’t a good enough centre forward, but maybe he goes back to that role because Gyokeres hasn’t done good enough.
"We said they didn’t win the title because they haven’t got a proper centre forward, they’ve got one now who cost a lot of money. but he’s not quite at the races."
This weekend, Arsenal will host Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League. Robson added: "I think Jesus probably starts against Sunderland if he’s fit.
"He’s a confidence player and he’s scored a few goals recently and looks sharp and hungry. Gyokeres is okay at a lot of things but I don’t think he’s better than the others."
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