Gary Lineker believes it is only a matter of time before Viktor Gyokeres gets back among the goals and says he is contributing to Arsenal despite his goal-drought.
Gyokeres has gone six games since his last goal for Arsenal, which came in the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on September 13.
Before that, Gyokeres scored two goals in his first five appearances for the Gunners, with both of those coming in the 5-0 thrashing over Leeds United in late August.
The 27-year-old boasted an extraordinary goalscoring record at his former club Sporting, scoring 68 goals in 66 league games, but only has three in ten for Arsenal.
Arsenal paid £64m to sign Gyokeres from Portuguese champions Sporting over the summer and hope the Sweden international can take the team to the next level.
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The Gunners have come agonisingly close to winning the Premier League over the past three season and are sitting top after seven games of the 2025-26 campaign.
Discussing Gyokeres’ somewhat underwhelming start at the Emirates Stadium, Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast: ‘I think that, even though he’s not banged loads of goals in yet, Viktor Gyokeres gives them something different.
‘He gives them a threat behind, which creates more space for the midfield and even the wide players, and he’s aggressive with his running and he likes to spin and he attacks the space in the box.
‘The goals will come for him because of the service that he will inevitably get, particularly now Bukayo Saka is back in the mix and looks like his old self after his injury.
‘So I think it’s quite promising for Arsenal, I think we might be in for a really good title race this season.’
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Gyokeres’ mini goal-drought was put to Mikel Arteta after Arsenal beat Olympiakos in the Champions League last week.
Like Lineker, Arteta believes former Manchester United transfer target Gyokeres is ‘helping the team a lot’ even when he is not getting on the scoresheet.
‘What I sense is that he’s doing better and better things every game,’ Arteta said. ‘Today he was denied a few times, one of the blocks, and then he hit the post.
‘But I think overall his performance was exceptional. Again, his work rate was really good.
‘Yes, 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.’
Gyokeres’ next chance to end his goal drought will come against Arsenal’s London rivals Fulham on October 18 after the international break.
The ex-Coventry City and Swansea City striker is expected to be involved in Sweden’s World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Kosovo during the international break.
Arsenal were five points behind defending champions and early pacesetters Liverpool a week ago but now lead the title race by one point.
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