Arsenal told they can’t win the title with ‘okay’ Gyokeres
Joleon Lescott believes Arsenal are incapable of winning the title with just a ‘proper’ striker like Viktor Gyokeres leading the way, but TEAMtalk thinks it’s bullshit.
The common consensus entering the summer transfer window was that Arsenal were just a powerful new striker away from building a title-winning team. The Gunners have pounced on Viktor Gyokeres who has put up impressive numbers with Sporting CP in Portugal.
Gyokeres has scored 68 goals in 66 Primeira Liga matches for the Lisbon club. Given that it’s no secret the Premier League is a much tougher league, no one expects Gyokeres to continue operating on a goal per game basis in England.
But according to former defender Joleon Lescott – who won two EPL titles with Manchester City – Gyokeres will not transform Arsenal from challengers to champions.
“I would describe Victor Gyokeres as ‘okay,’” Lescott said. Sky bet. “If you want to win the championship, your striker can’t be good, he has to be better.
“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 it’s running and because of that big gap (before the round of 16), no one knows what kind of shape or fitness the teams will be in.
“That suits Arsenal better than having to be consistently good every week to win the championship.”
Is Lescott telling the truth? In the spirit of TEAMtalk, absolutely not…
Why Gyokeres CAN propel Arsenal to their first title in over 20 years
Arsenal came into the current campaign having finished second in three consecutive seasons. The respective gaps from first place over the last three years were five points, two points and 10 points.
The key here is to look at precisely where these points have been abandoned. As Arsenal fans were rightly proud until the streak ended at the hands of Liverpool earlier this season, the Gunners performed extremely well against the toughest opponents.
In fact, Arsenal remained unbeaten in 22 matches against members of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ before the defeat at Anfield, brought about by a largely unplayable free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai.
Arsenal have proven that they can and will often achieve draws and wins against their biggest rivals, even without Gyokeres in the team.
As such, this shouldn’t be a major concern if the Swede has little to no impact in these matches. In the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, for example, Gyokeres posted figures of 0.00 expected goal and 0.01 assist…yet Arsenal did not lose the match.
The biggest problem for the Gunners in recent seasons has been dropping points against teams they should have dismissed and it is in these sorts of games that Gyokeres will thrive.
His three Premier League goals so far have come against newly promoted Leeds United and struggling Nottingham Forest.
The term ‘flat bully’ is usually associated with a negative term, but that’s exactly what Arsenal needed.
Looking just at last season, Arsenal lost points against Brighton (twice), Bournemouth (twice), Fulham, Everton (twice), West Ham, Brentford and Crystal Palace.
None of these teams mentioned finished high enough to qualify for European football. Yet Arsenal have only scored more than one goal in one of those 10 matches and on three occasions they have gone scoreless.
Gyokeres doesn’t have the guile or explosive pace to regularly get the better of top defenses on bigger teams.
But against teams midway through the Premier League and below, Gyokeres will feast and that’s exactly what Arsenal need.
VOTE: How many goals will Gyokeres score this season?
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