Ian Wright has launched a staunch defence of Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres after his man of the match display against Fulham.
The Gunners opened up a six-point lead at the highest of the Premier League table following a convincing 3-0 win against their London rivals.
Gyokeres scored twice in the primary half and likewise created the chance from which Bukayo Saka was capable of double his side’s advantage.
After scoring from the penalty spot in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid, the summer signing from Sporting Lisbon appears to be hitting form at just the correct time, particularly in light of an injury to Kai Havertz.
Overall, Gyokeres has now scored 21 goals in all competitions and Wright believes his ability to place lesser teams to the sword has helped cure a long-standing problem for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Wright told Premier League Live: ‘People have been saying for a few years Arsenal must get a striker. Then we get the striker and other people say he’s not ok.
‘You’ve gotten to say 21 goals, obviously 12 within the Premier League, says that he’s done the job for us.
‘He did the job for us today and I’m sure against the teams we’ve got coming like West Ham, I believe he could probably put in the identical sort of performance and possibly nick one other couple of goals.
‘If he only scores against those sort of teams that’s what Arsenal have all the time needed.
‘They don’t have problems scoring against the highest six, it’s the opposite teams just like the Fulhams and the Wolves and the teams like that we’ve had problems scoring against.
‘He’s are available and he’s sort of solved that problem for us.’
Gyokeres’ combination with Saka was a very encouraging aspect of a devstating first 45 minutes, particularly given the pair have struggled to form an understanding up to now this season.
‘Yes, they haven’t played together much unfortunately due to the injuries that we had, but there are relationships that I actually enjoyed today.’
Saka, starting his first game because the Carabao Cup final in March, was substituted at half-time as a precaution but looks as if he will probably be ready for Atletico on Tuesday.
‘We needed to, he played 30-odd minutes in Madrid, now he’s played 45 minutes,’ added Arteta.
‘We’d like to ramp up his load but we should be careful because we’d like him on that pitch.’
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