After opening the scoring against Fulham, Viktor Gyokeres bagged his 20th Gunners goal and joined an exclusive club in the process.
The Swede’s fine week in front of goal saw him score at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night in the Champions League, which was his fifth goal for us in Europe this term, and then moved onto 15 Premier League goals for the campaign by bagging a brace against the Cottagers.
Having also got on the scoresheet in our Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea, we have seen Viktor's iconic mask celebration 21 times in red and white in his debut season, and that’s a figure only 12 other players in our 139-year history can lay claim to.
Arsenal players with 20+ goals in debut season
Season
Player
Games
Goals
1914/15
Henry King
39
29
1925/26
Charlie Buchan
45
20
1928/29
David Jack
36
26
1946/47
Ronnie Rooke
27
22
1949/50
Peter Goring
35
21
1962/63
Joe Baker
42
31
1974/75
Brian Kidd
50
23
1976/77
Malcolm Macdonald
50
29
1982/83
Tony Woodcock
52
21
1991/92
Ian Wright
33
26
1999/00
Thierry Henry
48
26
2014/15
Alexis Sanchez
52
25
2025/26
Viktor Gyokeres
50
21*
The first player to do so was Harry King in 1914/15, one of our most prolific strikers before World War I who also bagged the first-ever hat-trick at Highbury as part of his tally. Both legendary striker Charlie Buchan and David Jack - then the world’s most expensive footballer - achieved the feat in the 1920s, while veteran hitman Ronnie Rooke and Peter Goring did so in the 1940s.
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Joe Baker would lead our line impressively during the 1960s and holds the record for most goals netted in his first season with the club, with 31 of his 100 for us coming in 1962/63, while the 1970s would see Brian Kidd and the charismatic Malcolm Macdonald join the list.
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Big money recruits Tony Woodcock and Ian Wright were the only players to hit 20 in the 1980s and 1990s respectively, while Thierry Henry got his record-breaking Gunners goalscoring career off to a great start with 26 strikes in 1999/00.
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But incredibly, since then, only one player has enjoyed a similar return in their first season in north London, which was Alexis Sanchez in 2014/15 - that is until Viktor this term.
With 15 strikes to his name now, only Henry (17) and Sanchez (16) have scored more Premier League goals in their debut campaign than our No. 14, who still has three more games to surpass them and grab a slice of history for himself.
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