Mikel Arteta has been warned Arsenal won’t win the Premier League with ‘okay’ Viktor Gyokeres leading the road.
Gyokeres has scored three goals in ten games for the Gunners since his £64m summer move from Sporting.
Arteta has repeatedly leapt to Gyokeres’ defence amid criticism from some pundits – insisting he helps the team even when he isn’t contributing goals – and maybe he has a degree as Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League and joint-top of the Champions League.
But Arsenal fans could be forgiven for being somewhat underwhelmed by the shape of a player who boasted a sensational goalscoring record in Portugal, scoring 68 times in 66 league games for Sporting.
The signing of Gyokeres felt like a coup given Arsenal’s desperate need for a brand new No. 9 and the actual fact Premier League rivals Manchester United were firmly within the transfer race.
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But two-time Premier League winner Joleon Lescott says Gyokeres is just ‘okay’ and has questioned whether he’ll fire Arsenal to a long-awaited title.
‘I might describe Victor Gyokeres as “okay”,’ Lescott told Sky Bet. ‘In case you’re going to win the league, your striker can’t be okay, he must be top.
‘I don’t think Mikel Arteta can get Arsenal over the road within the Premier League. But within the Champions League, it’s different.
‘With the best way he rotates and since of that big gap [before the knockout stages], nobody knows what sort of form or fitness teams might be in.
‘That suits Arsenal higher than having to be consistently good each week to win the league.’
Premier League title odds
Arsenal 10/11
Liverpool 11/4
Manchester City 4/1
Chelsea 25/1
Tottenham 40/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
One other former England international, Chris Waddle, recently questioned Arsenal’s signing of Gyokeres and whether he was even an upgrade on the players already in Arteta’s squad.
Arsenal recovered from an early wobble to win their last two games – against Newcastle United and West Ham – and climb to the highest of the Premier League table.
Arteta’s side were five points behind Liverpool at first of the month however the defending champions suffered back-to-back defeats to slide back into the pack.
Arsenal return to Premier League motion on Saturday against London rivals Fulham, while Liverpool will look to get back to winning ways at home to Manchester United.
Lescott believes the Gunners ‘let their emotions get the higher of them’ during matches and says this might find yourself costing them within the title race.
‘They do and it’s because they haven’t any reference of winning to know easy methods to control that,’ the ex-England defender added. ‘The more you win, the calmer you might be.
‘Have a look at last season, when it wasn’t going well for Manchester City, they weren’t reactional and negative, they knew they’d get back [into the game], but with Arsenal it’s sometimes like the tip of the world [if they’re not performing].’
Lescott’s two Premier League titles got here at Man City, who’re currently fifth within the table, three points behind Arsenal.
The 43-year-old also played for Wolves, Everton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Sunderland in addition to making 26 caps for England.
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