Credit: Imago

Tom Griffin

Fri 10 October 2025 16:30, UK

Arsenal are on a mission to win the Premier League title this season, and Viktor Gyokeres is pivotal to their chances of ending a 22-year curse.

Gyokeres was captured from Sporting Lisbon in the summer transfer window, with Mikel Arteta persuading the goal machine to join his project at the Emirates.

Fast forward to mid-October, and the 27-year-old has made a decent start to life at Arsenal, scoring three in his opening seven Premier League appearances.

Matt Le Tissier spoke highly of Gyokeres to Football Insider before the international break, and the former Southampton forward thinks his goals can make all the difference in the title race.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is outperforming Viktor Gyokeres in 2025/26

It’s been a long time since the Gunners had a world-class centre-forward leading the line, with many feeling Gyokeres is the missing piece to their puzzle.

Arguably, since the days of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal have struggled for a clinical finisher at the top end of the pitch.

Aubameyang was one of Arsenal’s greatest ever strikers in the modern era, until a bust-up with Arteta after being stripped of the captaincy led him to join Barcelona in February 2022.

The Gabon centre-forward left North London with an incredible 92 goals in 163 appearances, and since his departure, he has continued his rich vein of scoring.

Remarkably, despite turning 36 in June, Aubameyang has scored four assisted three across all competitions in 2025/26, beating Gyokeres’ return of three goals.

What Mikel Arteta has said about Gyokeres’ start at Arsenal

Although Aubameyang remains one of the Ligue 1’s most prolific finishers, Gyokeres will be hopeful of outscoring the former Arsenal icon.

So far, he’s still finding his feet in the Premier League, and after Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Newcastle at the end of September, Arteta praised the Swede for his performance and backed him to score more goals.

“I loved it. I absolutely loved how he took it. He went on board, and there wasn’t a single moment where he showed frustration,” Arteta said.

“I told him that he was going to get some decisions and some not, and he was going to have two or three players around him, but I loved his reaction a lot.

“The way he handled the situation emotionally and also because he was involved in a lot of dangerous moments. It’s a pity he didn’t score a goal because in my opinion he fully deserved it.”

A ferocious and in-form Gyokeres is a scary proposition for any defender, with the former Coventry City striker capable of hitting at least 20 goals this season.