Richards has been discussing Arsenal's biggest question markplaceholder image
Richards has been discussing Arsenal's biggest question mark | Getty Images
One of Arsenal’s key players has been questioned despite providing an important goal.
There isn’t too much to criticise about Arsenal currently, given their excellent form, but when you are chasing titles, there is always room to over-examine the finer details, that have the scope to derail such title bids.
According to Micah Richards, one of those issues is striker Viktor Gyokeres, who arrived on a big-money deal from Sporting CP in the summer. Richards questioned on The Rest is Football Podcast: “The question is going to be, Gyokeres, can he make the difference in the bigger games? Because right now, he’s doing so well for the team in terms of stretching, but he’s missing a lot of opportunities that maybe could go against him at the end of the season.
“I know they’ve got Kai Havertz to come back, but Gyokeres needs to be the difference against the bigger teams, the later stages of the Champions League, and when it gets really difficult in a league, you’re playing three times a week.If you have a Real Madrid in one week, you have a Man City, or whatever it may be, that needs to be the difference.”
Gary Lineker responded: “The criticism that people perhaps would say is that, I don’t want to call him a flat-track bully, that’s a bit unfair, because what he did in Portugal, he didn’t really score many goals against the top teams, and so far his [Premier League] goals have been against Burnley, [Nottingham] Forest and Leeds. So I take your point, I think he needs to do in some of the big games, but I think he’s had a reasonable start.”
Gyokeres finds the net
Gyokeres scored against Burnley over the weekend, turning one home from close range following a corner. Arteta praised the striker’s impact after the game when addressing an injury that ultimately forced him off.
“I think it was one of the best games that he's played,” said the Arsenal boss. “I think overall his performance was exceptional; he was part of the first goal. We had to take him off because he was feeling a little niggle, muscular, so we'll have to wait and see.”
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