Mikel Arteta told Arsenal stars don’t ‘trust’ team-mate ahead of Leeds clash

Troy Deeney has backed Viktor Gyokeres to open his account for Arsenal against Leeds this weekend, but believes there were signs the striker didn’t have the ‘trust’ of his team-mates during his Premier League debut.

Arsenal fended off strong competition from Manchester United to sign Gyokeres on the back of the forward’s magnificent two-season spell with Sporting, in which he scored 97 goals in 102 games.

But Gyokeres cut an isolated figure up front as he was thrown straight in at the deep end at Old Trafford and was taken off for Kai Havertz on the hour-mark having failed to register a single shot in the Gunners’ 1-0 win.

Arsenal’s fanbase have been crying out for an out-and-out centre-forward for some time and there are hopes Gyokeres could be the missing piece of the puzzle that could help end the club’s long wait for a Premier League title.

Given Arsenal’s fee for Gyokeres could rise to as much as £64million, there is already a weight of expectation on the Swede’s shoulders to start delivering the goods heading into Saturday afternoon’s contest.

The news that Havertz could be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a knee injury has only ramped up the pressure on Arsenal’s marquee summer signing to perform and begin to justify the hype.

‘I’m not going to kill him after one game because that’s unfair, but what I saw was a lack of trust from his team-mates to him,’ ex-Watford captain Deeney said of Gyokeres’ performance against United on The Football Exchange podcast.

‘There was a moment in the first half where they break away and [Gabriel] Martinelli is running and he [Gyokeres] does two runs and both runs made it more difficult for the person on the ball. He didn’t go, “Right, let’s assess this.”

‘As a striker when we counter-attack, when you’re the furthest forward what you naturally do is go wide to spread the defenders that are there and then try to make your darting run because you’ve made the space and now you’re trying to attack the space.

‘Both times he ran into the space, stopped, and then re-ran into the space and Martinelli was poor on the day as well and put it out of play.’

Despite his initial doubts about Gyokeres, Deeney believes a goal against Leeds could do the forward’s confidence the world of good.

However, the former Watford skipper wouldn’t be surprised to see Arteta take Gyokeres out of the firing line should Arsenal perform better without the Sweden international.

He added: ‘Listen, I think he’s going to score goals. They’re going to have to start him again against Leeds because you’d expect them to beat Leeds comfortably, it’s at home.

‘You’d expect him to score in that game and hopefully get his confidence upand off to the races.

‘But if they don’t… because they were better when Havertz came on towards the end.

According to Deeney, Gyokeres may have to learn to add other layers and dimensions to his game if he is to establish himself as one of the Premier League’s best strikers.

He continued: ‘I think Kai’s a better footballer and he was able to understand: “We’re under pressure so I need to come short and look after the ball…”

‘Arteta is saying that they’re going to have to change their style because of what Gyokeres brings. He’s a bit like [Erling] Haaland in the sense that he wants to go in behind, he’s more of a poacher than an all-round footballer.

‘I think he [Gyokeres] needs to understand and get better. The problem I have with it and I spoke to a few lads who played in and around my generation, when we played you had to be decent at everything but have a super-strength.

‘You look at the strikers now and they’ve got a super-strength and then the rest of the team picks up.

‘[Alexander] Isak is the only one, in my opinion, who is very good at everything. You can’t really find a flaw in him.’

Facing the media on the eve of Arsenal’s clash with newly promoted Leeds, Arteta explained his thinking after taking Gyokeres off on the hour-mark on his debut.

‘Every game brings a different challenges and opportunities,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters.

‘I the game [against Manchester United] was very demanding physically and it became really, really open for different reasons.

‘We decided that at that moment he did enough and we had Kai on the bench to come on and change the game.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.