The £27m star is now Arsenal’s ‘best finisher’

Has Viktor Gyökeres lived up to pre-season expectations at Arsenal?

Well, so far the Swedish international striker has scored six times for the Gunners, including in the 4-0 demolition of Atlético Madrid in the Champions League.

However, as the saying goes, in absence the heart grows fonder.

Gyökeres limped off at half-time against Burnley, having opened the scoring at Turf Moor, thus missing subsequent trips to Prague and Sunderland, his absence really felt in the 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light, with Mikel Arteta really lacking someone capable of running in behind, as well as reinforcements off the bench, so perhaps his importance was only crystallized when he was not there.

Before suffering the injury, Gyökeres had started all 13 of Arsenal’s Premier League and Champions League matches, completing 90 minutes on nine occasions due to a lack of alternatives, with Kai Havertz not seen since injuring his knee at Old Trafford on the opening weekend.

Ahead of a north London derby after the international break, Arteta is hoping to return to the cavalry, with all six of Arsenal’s injured forwards set to return, so could “the club’s best finisher” challenge Gyökeres for his previously uncontested starting spot?

The importance of Kai Havertz for Arsenal

If Arsenal are to propel Manchester City to the Premier League title, they will need their key players to remain fit and available.

For Arteta, these are William Saliba, Gabriel, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka; one could say that Jurriën Timber also entered this exclusive group, while Martin Ødegaard was certainly there too before his injury problems this season and last.

If you ask the manager, or even some spectators, although that zeitgeist has changed for most supporters, Kai Havertz is also among Arteta’s most important.

So far in 2025, the Germany international has played just 817 competitive minutes, 754 of which came before a serious torn hamstring during the hot weather training campaign in February before, just when he had an entire pre-season under his belt, a knee injury sustained against Manchester United in August required surgery.

Initially signed to play a completely different role, with Arteta stating on his arrival that “he will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield”, after Havertz’s experiment as a left eight did not go as planned, he thrived as a centre-forward, scoring 29 goals for the Gunners to date.

So what Arteta has shown is that if Havertz is available, he will find a place for him in his team, so the idea that Gyökeres’ arrival would end his career at Arsenal would never have been the case.

Obviously the pre-season plan was for the two men to share the centre-forward role, which who knows might have avoided Gyökeres’ injury, but it would certainly have benefited him, given the Swede’s two best performances, at St James’ Park and Turf Moor, both came after EFL Cup matches where he had been rested.

However, once Arteta has his full complement of attackers available again, the legendary ‘when everyone is fit’ joy that managers rarely enjoy, could there be another challenger for ninth place?

Why Mikel Arteta’s ‘best finisher’ could lead the line

As already highlighted, Gyökeres, Havertz and Ødegaard as well as Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus are all hoping to make their highly anticipated returns in the coming weeks.

Due to threadbare options, Arteta was forced to return to the well that never seems to run dry, namely Mikel Merino up front, something the Gooners thought they had seen the end of after last season, but all the absences gave Leandro Trossard the opportunity to make a serious claim.

The Belgian leads the way for Arsenal in terms of combined goals and assists so far this season, with four of each, while this is also the case throughout 2025, as shown in the table below.

Trossard has scored crucial goals on the road against Fulham and Athletic Club this season, before firing off this absolute rocket on Wearside last Saturday night.

Since joining the club from Brighton for £27 million in January 2023, probably a better signing than Mykhailo Mudryk would have been, Trossard has been prolific in front of goal, scoring 32 goals and racking up 27 assists, the most of any Arsenal player during that period.

Thus, the Belgian has been called “the club’s best finisher”, while Tim Stillman of Arseblog agrees, describing him as an “excellent shooter and finisher”, something that the Arsenal team generally lacks, praising his “positional versatility”.

So, given his production, Arteta will want to have Trossard on the pitch in one way or another.

With Madueke and Martinelli competing for minutes on the left wing, could we see Trossard fighting for minutes at center forward, certainly offering something different to Gyökeres, at least putting pressure on the Swede to perform, something he hasn’t had due to the lack of a real alternative so far?