Six reasons why Mikel Arteta is right about Viktor Gyokeres despite Alan Shearer Arsenal blasts

Viktor Gyokeres ended his goalscoring drought on Tuesday and stats suggest that the Arsenal striker is having a huge impact on Mikel Arteta's team

Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres continues to be heavily backed by Mikel Arteta. The Swede has come under fire for his modest goalscoring record since joining the Gunners.

Gyokeres added a third and soon after a fourth goal during Tuesday's impressive 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid, which will be a huge boost to him. The goals against Diego Simeone's side were his first in seven matches - taking his total tally for Arsenal up to five across all competitions.

Arteta shared his happiness at seeing Gyokeres end his goal drought - while adding his hope for what the former Sporting CP star could now go on to achieve.

"Delighted as he fully deserved it," the Spaniard told Amazon Prime post-match. "The work rate he brings to the team is outstanding.

"We value a lot of things that he does for the team, and it was the biggest smile on his face today, and look at his teammates. Hopefully, this is the start of some beautiful sequences."

And six stats from Opta indicate that Arteta's view on the forward is an accurate reflection of what he brings to the Gunners. Gyokeres is leading the Premier League in applying 'high pressure' in the final third (defined by Opta as getting within two metres of an opponent), with a record of 199 such actions.

He also tops the charts for high pressures applied in the opposition penalty area with 90. Elsewhere, the Swede has made more off-the-ball runs (54) into the penalty area than any other Premier League player this season.

When combining his stats domestically and in Europe, Gyokeres leads at Arsenal with possession wins in the final third (8), fouls won (19), touches in the opposition box (68 and is joint first with a 100 per cent tackle success rate.

Arteta's view on the 27-year-old and the stats behind it are in contrast to that of former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer. Speaking on Saturday's Match of the Day, Shearer gave an honest assessment of the attacker.

“He’s not in the league of the three we showed in the previous clip [Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe], far from that,” he said.

“But I think he brings a different strength, there’s no doubt that he will have to improve his goalscoring, as you said, he’s only got three.

“But one of his strengths which has suited Arsenal is he actually goes in behind. When he does that it creates space for others to play because last season you had [Kai] Havertz or [Mikel] Merino coming short and that’s easier for teams to defend against.

“When you’re running the other way they get deeper and deeper and that then opens up space for others to play. I think from that point of view he has improved Arsenal.”

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