Mikel Arteta has been warned Arsenal will not win the Premier League with ‘okay’ Viktor Gyokeres leading the line.
Gyokeres has scored three goals in ten games for the Gunners since his £64m summer move from Sporting.
Arteta has repeatedly leapt to Gyokeres’ defence amid criticism from some pundits – insisting he is helping the team even when he is not contributing goals – and perhaps he has a point as Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League and joint-top of the Champions League.
But Arsenal fans would be forgiven for being somewhat underwhelmed by the form of a player who boasted a sensational goalscoring record in Portugal, scoring 68 times in 66 league games for Sporting.
The signing of Gyokeres felt like a coup given Arsenal’s desperate need for a new No. 9 and the fact Premier League rivals Manchester United were firmly in the transfer race.
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But two-time Premier League winner Joleon Lescott says Gyokeres is only ‘okay’ and has questioned whether he will fire Arsenal to a long-awaited title.
‘I would describe Victor Gyokeres as “okay”,’ Lescott told Sky Bet. ‘If you’re going to win the league, your striker can’t be okay, he has to be top.
‘I don’t think Mikel Arteta can get Arsenal over the line in the Premier League. But in the Champions League, it’s different.
‘With the way he rotates and because of that big gap [before the knockout stages], no one knows what kind of form or fitness teams will be in.
‘That suits Arsenal better than having to be consistently good every single week to win the league.’
Premier League title odds
Arsenal 10/11
Liverpool 11/4
Manchester City 4/1
Chelsea 25/1
Tottenham 40/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
Another former England international, Chris Waddle, recently questioned Arsenal’s signing of Gyokeres and whether he was even an upgrade on the players already in Arteta’s squad.
Arsenal recovered from an early wobble to win their last two games – against Newcastle United and West Ham – and climb to the top of the Premier League table.
Arteta’s side were five points behind Liverpool at the start of the month but the defending champions suffered back-to-back defeats to slip back into the pack.
Arsenal return to Premier League action on Saturday against London rivals Fulham, while Liverpool will look to get back to winning ways at home to Manchester United.
Lescott believes the Gunners ‘let their emotions get the better of them’ during matches and says this could end up costing them in the title race.
‘They do and it’s because they have no reference of winning to know how to control that,’ the ex-England defender added. ‘The more you win, the calmer you are.
‘Look at last season, when it wasn’t going well for Manchester City, they weren’t reactional and negative, they knew they’d get back [into the game], but with Arsenal it’s sometimes like the end of the world [if they’re not performing].’
Lescott’s two Premier League titles came at Man City, who are currently fifth in the table, three points behind Arsenal.
The 43-year-old also played for Wolves, Everton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Sunderland as well as making 26 caps for England.
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