Victor Gokeres held out another goalless run as Arsenal beat Fulham, but the striker has been warned not to repeat his Sporting Lisbon performance in the Premier League
Alan Shearer believes Victor Goqueres will ultimately do well at Arsenal, but insists he will be “nowhere near” the numbers he recorded at Sporting Lisbon, which ultimately convinced the Gunners to sign him.
The Swede will move to the Emirates in the summer in a deal worth £67 million. He was acquired as manager Mikel Arteta looked to add a prolific number nine to his front line, but Gokeres has struggled to produce consistently in the final third. He has only scored three goals this season.
The 27-year-old has failed to find the back of the net in his last seven appearances for Arsenal and missed even more chances in Saturday night’s narrow win over Fulham.
Gökeres won numerous accolades with Sporting and was Europe’s top scorer last season, but Shearer insists he is far from the likes of Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, who have set the standards for European football.
He said on Match of the Day: “He’s not quite as good as the three guys in the last video, or even worse. But I think he brings another strength. He definitely has to improve his scoring ability. Like you said, he only has three points.”
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“But one of his strengths for Arsenal is actually to step back. That creates space for other players to play, because last season we lacked either (Kai) Havertz or (Mikel) Merino. It’s easier for the team to defend. When you run in the opposite direction, they get deeper and deeper and that leaves space for other players to play. I think he has improved Arsenal from that point of view.”
The Newcastle great continued: “He will score goals, but obviously not far from the goals he had last season. But he will and will score depending on the number of chances Arsenal create and his numbers should improve.”
Gökeres continues to enjoy the support of his head coach and teammates who insist that his overall performance contributes to the team, even if he is not on the scoresheet. Victory at Craven Cottage extended Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table.
They met for a summit just before the international break, watched Manchester City win on Saturday afternoon and reacted hours later. Liverpool will have a chance to cut their lead over Arsenal to one point again when they face Manchester United on Sunday.
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