£27m star is now Arsenal’s “best finisher”

Has Victor Gyukiris lived up to pre-season expectations at Arsenal?

Well, so far, the Sweden international has scored six goals for Arsenal, most notably a brace in a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

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

Geukeris stumbled in the first half against Burnley, having opened the scoring at Turf Moor, and subsequently missed subsequent trips to Prague and Sunderland, and his absence was evident during the 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light, with Mikel Arteta really lacking someone capable of running at the back, as well as reinforcements from the bench, so perhaps his importance only crystallized when he wasn’t there.

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

Ahead of the north London derby after the international break, Arteta hopes to have the Knights back With all six of Arsenal’s injured strikers close to returning, can the ‘club’s best player’ challenge Gyokeris for his previously undisputed starting place?

The importance of Kai Havertz for Arsenal

If Arsenal are to overtake Manchester City and win 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 argue that Jurrian Timber has joined this exclusive group as well, while Martin Odegaard was certainly there too before his injury problems this season and last season.

If you ask the manager, if not some spectators, even if this zeitgeist has changed for most supporters, Kai Havertz is at the highest level of importance for Arteta too.

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

Initially signed to play a very different role, Arteta stated upon his arrival that he would “bring a lot of extra strength to our midfield”, and after Havertz’s experiment as a left-eight did not go to plan, he has flourished as a centre-forward, scoring 29 goals for Arsenal 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 Gyokeris’ arrival will end his Arsenal career will never be the case.

The pre-season plan was clearly to partner the duo in the centre-forward role, which, who knows, might have prevented Gyokeris’ injury, but would certainly have benefited him, given that the Swede’s two best performances, coming at St James’ Park and Turf Moor, both occurred after EFL Cup matches where he had been rested.

However, once Arteta has his full complement of strikers available again, legendary managers rarely relishing ‘when everyone is fit’, could there be another contender for the ninth spot?

Why could Mikel Arteta’s ‘best striker’ top the line?

As already shown, Gyukiris, Havertz and Odegaard as well as Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus are all hoping to make their eagerly-awaited returns in the coming weeks.

Due to poor options, Arteta has been forced to return to the well that never seems to run dry in Mikel Merino up front, something the Gunners thought they had seen the end of after last season, but all the absentees have given Leandro Trossard the chance to stake his claim in earnest.

The Belgian leads the way at Arsenal in terms of total goals and assists so far this season, with four of each, while that will also be the case across 2025, as the table below documents.

Trossard has scored crucial goals away from home against both Fulham and Athletic Club this season, before unleashing this absolute missile on Wearside last Saturday night.

Since joining the club from Brighton for £27m in January 2023, perhaps a better signing than Mykhailo Modric, Trossard has been prolific in front of goal, scoring 32 goals and providing 27 assists, the most of any Arsenal player during that time frame.

Thus, the Belgian has been rated as the club’s “best striker”, while Arseblog’s Tim Stillman agrees, describing him as “an excellent striker and an excellent goalscorer”, something that Arsenal’s team generally lacks, praising his “versatility in positions”.

Therefore, given his production, Arteta will want Trossard on the pitch in some capacity.

With Madueke and Martinelli competing for minutes on the left wing, could we see Trossard challenge for minutes at centre-forward, certainly offering something different to Gyokeris, at least putting pressure on the Swede to perform, something he has not had due to the lack of a real alternative up to this point?