Viktor Gyokeres is enduring something of a goal drought but Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and captain Martin Odegaard are full of praise for his level of performance.
The summer signing from Sporting scored three goals in his first four Arsenal appearances, netting twice against Leeds and once in a win over Nottingham Forest.
That goal against the Tricky Trees on September 13 was his last, though, failing to score in any of his last five outings.
He started four of those games, with his only substitute appearance coming against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup.
Arsenal beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday night, with the Swede playing the full 90 minutes, but failing to score again.
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He spurned some chances but did contribute as his pace, power and effort on goal led to the Gabriel Martinelli opener.
Odegaard praised his efforts, telling ViaPlay: ‘He does a tremendous job in creating space for others and he was just inches away from scoring.’
Arteta is pleased with how the 27-year-old is adapting to his new surroundings and believes he is contributing plenty, even if it is not in scoring goals.
‘What I sense is that he’s doing better and better things every game, and today he was denied a few times on one of the blocks, and then he hit the post, but I think overall his performance was exceptional,’ said the Gunners boss.
‘Again, his work was really good, and yeah, we want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn’t do that, at least to do everything as he’s doing for the team, because he’s helping the team a lot.’
Asked if he expects Gyokeres to score a lot of goals when he does end his drought, Arteta added: ‘I don’t know, but hopefully, yes, and hopefully it will be on Saturday.’
Odegaard’s performance against Olympiacos has been widely praised, as the Norwegian returned to the starting line-up after injury.
He provided the assist for Bukayo Saka’s late goal and Arteta hopes to see his captain more involved in scoring goals.
‘He’s got all the licence in the world to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom and to play with that level of threat especially, not only with the passes, but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs, and arriving in really dangerous areas,’ said the Spaniard.
‘I think he put three people through today to score a goal, he should have scored a goal as well, so great to have him back, he played some very good minutes in Newcastle to help us to win the game, and I think today he was phenomenal.’
Arteta will be hoping Odegaard’s ability to put Gyokeres through behind the defence will prove fruitful, with the midfielder confident it will.
‘That is what I want to do, especially with those forward players, especially with Viktor, who is so aggressive and always a threat,’ Odegaard told TNT Sports.
‘That is my job, to create things for them. I could have had a few more assists, but we got the win and I enjoyed it.’
The win over the Greek side made it two victories from two in the Champions League and keeps up momentum after the rousing late win at Newcastle at the weekend.
The Gunners are back at the Emirates on Saturday as they host struggling West Ham before another London derby at Fulham the following week.