Morning folks – happy Saturday n all that Jazz.

Well, probs not for poor ol’ Viktor Gyokeres, whose Sweden side were beaten 2-0 by a Granit Xhaka-fuelled SWitzerland side at home yesterday evening. I had a little look on Sofascore at how he got on and they rated him as a 7.2, so he can’t have been that bad, especially when £125million Alexander Isak dropped a 6.5 in proceedings. I am doing that right, aren’t I? Because whenever Nico Pepe was mentioned in the press it was “£72million Nicoholas Pepe”, so we’re applying the same rules to the guy who is the most expensive signing in Premier League history. Let that price tag be a millstone around his neck. Hopefully.

But back to Big Vik, who looks to have had a Big Vik kind of game; made 33 touches in total, made a couple of dribbles, a couple of key passes, created one big chance, won half of his ground duels and half of his aerial duels. He lost possession nine times, was fouled on three occasions and had a couple of shots. By looking at some of the numbers it very much looks like it was Switzerland’s night, who had more of the chances and ball and without having watch the game, it looks to me as though he and Isak probably cut a bit of a lonely figure.

Admittedly this is all speculation though because, as I say, I haven’t watched the game. But I think it is interesting to spark up a conversation about our Swedish number nine who, having listened to a few post-match pods after the West Ham game, has a few Arsenal fans expressing a modicum of concern.

Not me folks. I am happy with what I’ve seen so far. He is battling, he is pressing, he is making the runs and his engine is such that he has been seen chasing down defenders well in to the 80s in minutes in our matches. The concerns, from what I can see, seem to be predicated on the lack of goal output, particularly in some of the ‘smaller team’ games, if you will. He went goalless against West Ham and I think a few people saw that as a game in which he should be feasting. But I think there are some mitigating factors in there. Firstly, let’s not forget that he didn’t have a full pre season. Those players who haven’t had a full pre season with their clubs are having to get up to speed ‘on the job’, so to speak, with Isak being a perfect case in point. Liverpool have the luxury of being able to bed him in and only recently has he began starting in games. He has a total of 266 minutes so far this season. Gyokeres has played a total of 730. I think most of us are in no doubt that had we had a fully fit Havertz, maybe even a fully fit Gabriel Jesus (I know, I know), then his minutes would have been managed and there would have been a settling in process. But he’s been asked to do the hard yards and play all the time and even last night he was doing 90 minutes for Sweden. I think that context and factor has to be taken in. Bergkamp took time to settle in. Henry took time to settle in. The stories about Pires sitting on the bench just to see how fast the Premier League is for his first match are legendary. So if we take all of that context into our thinking around Gyokeres, I don’t think there’s too much to be concerned.

I heard a good point on the Arsenal Vision podcast (Or it might have been the Arsenal Opinion – apologies) I think it was, where the chaps talked about how your perspective on Gyokeres will probably depend on what you thought you were getting. I didn’t believe for a second we were getting a 30-goal a season striker in the Premier League. The two leagues just don’t match up. What I did think we would get is a 15-goal rotation option with Kai Havertz, who will offer something different in his hard running, his direct running, for which his teammates will have to be looking for if he’s to succeed. And I think that’s what we’ve got. He is making the runs and against Olympiacos I saw for the first time in the flesh how the team – and Odegaard in particular – were looking for those balls in behind. And he nearly scored in that game. Wer’re talking fine margins here peeps. If that Martinelli goal creeps in and doesn’t hit the post for the Brazilian to score, he’s got his Champions League campaign underway, and if he is a second quicker on to the Rice chance that flashes across the box in the West Ham game in that second half, we’re talking about a striker who has five goals already this season. There will be those who will say “yeah but it didn’t go in and he didn’t get to that Rice ball” but I look at it like this: If he makes that run another ten times and that ball comes in another ten times, how many of those is he bagging a goal? I think at least seven. Heck, we’ve already seen it with the goal he scored from Eze’s ball in. He takes up the positions, he finds the space in the box and he is a presence.

Teams don’t play high lines against us; they sit in their low blocks and he’s having to adapt his game to recognise that, but he’s also enhancing the space for others in his team in attacking positions, as we’ve seen already with the number of times Saka has been doubled up on. I don’t have the data, I have only my own eyes, but I haven’t seen as many teams double and triple-up on him. That’s because we have other threats across the team and if we’re now using a strong and powerful centre forward for the centre-halves and defensive midfielders to keep an eye on, the likes of Saka, Martinelli, Trossard and Eze could all profit from more space. Martinelli has already racked up three goals this season and Trossard is off the mark too.

So whilst I’ll admit it hasn’t been 100% perfect from Big Vik just yet, what I have seen is enough for me to know that we have a good striker, who will score goals, just not in the mega volumes that I suspect some people thought we might get when he first stepped out on the pitch as an Arsenal player.

Catch you all tomorrow as we await news on our international stars and their health/fitness.