What Mikel Arteta said to Viktor Gyokeres during private chat with Arsenal striker

Arsenal and Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres has gone eight games for club and country without scoring

Mikel Arteta told Viktor Gyokeres to handle the pressure during a chat with the Arsenal star this week - with striker hoping to end an eight-game streak of goalless matches for club and country.

The Arsenal striker started the season well with three goals in his first four games, but has since struggled to find the back of the net. Even alongside Alexander Isak with Sweden, two strikers many would assume would grab a bucketload of goals against Switzerland and Kosovo, he didn’t notch a single time.

Mikel Arteta, however, argued that this was a great illustration of the difficulty that all centre-forwards face. “It's a good representation of what is football,” he said ahead of Saturday's clash with Fulham. “Football is not you put those two players there and then everything is gone and we're going to score... If they score 45 and 55, we're going to score 100 goals.

“It doesn't work like this and it's a really good example of how tough this industry and this sport is, and even with the best possible ingredients, sometimes it's not enough to win.”

What will encourage supporters, however, is that Arteta explained that the Arsenal striker has returned to North London ahead of the weekend, reinvigorated and ready to put an end to this goalless run.

He added: “But I've seen it yesterday. And I think if that's done something, it's even [made him] more eager and more determined to do what he has to do here.”

Asked whether the 27-year-old is trying too hard, Arteta was quick to reject the suggestion. Instead, to the Arsenal manager, the run has more to do with bad luck than anything Gyokeres is doing wrong. “I don't think so,” Arteta replied. “I think he's in the right zone. I think he's been very unlucky.

“The more I watch some of the actions, very, very unlucky not to score another four or five goals easily by now. They will come, and sometimes he will have that luck that he probably didn't have before.”

Prior to Gyokeres’ arrival, both Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus operated as false nine-type centre-forwards, whereas the Swede came in with a greater traditional style. Both he and his teammates are continuing to adapt to this new partnership.

Arteta believes that outside of his goal threat, his contributions have met his expectations. He provided a glimpse into the discussions had between them before he was signed, including in the very scenarios where goals perhaps abandon the number nine for an undefined period.

“Yes, but he brings so much to the team and watching the games back, I'm very pleased with what he's given to the team,” he said. “I told him before the press meeting, I said, 'The nine that I want is a nine that when he doesn't score for six or eight games, he can handle that.’

“If not, you have to go somewhere else because the pressure is gone, the expectation is going to be there. So, if you put it on a nine shirt on for Arsenal, you have to be able to say, OK, six games, don't score. I'm a different player? I start to act in a different way?

“I want much more of the same of what he's doing. Once we have those opportunities, I'm sure it's going to happen.”

Only five teams have conceded more in the Premier League than Fulham this season. Gyokeres, therefore, has a great opportunity to put an end to his goal-scoring tribulations.