**Mikel Arteta reflected on the summer signing of Viktor Gyokeres, and backed the Swede to up his goal tally this season.**
Ahead of Arsenal’s clash against Wolves, Arteta spoke about the expectations and “excitement” that surrounded the striker’s arrival at the Emirates.
“First of all, \[there was\] a lot of excitement as it happened, because we were bringing in a proven goalscorer that had probably the best stats in Europe,” he said.
The Gunners boss recognised the difficulties of moving into the Premier League from the Primeira Liga, where the Swede had made 102 appearances for Sporting and scored 97 times.
“A player that comes to a different league, the most demanding league in the world, what happens if he doesn’t score for five or six games? Can you cope with that?” he explained.
Gyokeres started brightly at Arsenal, picking up three goals in his opening four appearances for his new club, but his form has dipped somewhat, with his fourth and final goal to date coming against Burnley at the start of November.
This was followed by a month on the sidelines with a muscular injury, and he is now looking to re-find his form in front of goal.
Asked what was needed for the situation to change, Arteta focused on continued adaptation and “working, understanding what he needs \[to do more of\], understanding the things he needs to tweak in this league, in our team, to be more prolific and to be in a more dangerous position.”
The manager highlighted the chances created in their midweek fixture against Club Brugge, and backed the star to succeed saying: “He will do for sure what he wants because he wants it so badly as well.”