Arsenal striker Viktor Gökeres is currently sidelined with a muscular injury and is not included in Sweden’s squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Sweden’s Viktor Gökeres will miss the World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Switzerland in mid-November due to injury. Arsenal replaced their striker at half-time against Burnley at the weekend, but Gokeres missed Tuesday night’s Champions League game against Slavia Prague due to a muscular problem.
Mikel Merino thrived in his absence, scoring twice in a 3-0 win in midweek. Following the latest news from Sweden, it seems highly unlikely that Gökeres will feature in Saturday night’s game against Sunderland.
Sweden, currently managed by former Chelsea and West Ham United manager Graham Potter, announced their squad on Wednesday morning. Liverpool’s Alexander Isak is playing despite his own injury concerns. However, there was no room for Gokeres.
read more: Mikel Arteta to update Victor Goqueres amid Arsenal injury and Gabriel concernsread more: UEFA immediately responds to VAR incident during Arsenal’s match against Slavia Prague
A post on the Swedish Football Association’s website confirmed that he and Tottenham Hotspur’s Dejan Kulusevski were absent due to injury. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta spoke about Gokeres’ condition in Monday’s pre-match press conference.
“He’s definitely not available,” the Gunners manager admitted. “He did not train today and will need further tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury, but will not be available for this match.
“I’m concerned because he didn’t have much of a muscle problem and had to leave the field. He felt something and that’s obviously never a good sign, especially for a player who is so explosive. We’re looking a little bit more closely to understand the injury situation. We’ll make an announcement when we know more.”
Arteta added: “Of course he was very disappointed with how he felt after the game, but that’s part of football. At the end of the day, if you expect it to be linear and everything goes well, that doesn’t happen.”
“If he has something that he needs to deal with, we’re going to help him do that. He was in a really good moment and was feeling really good. He’s very important to the team.”
Potter also mentioned the concussion that Spurs midfielder Lukas Bergvall is recovering from. “Lucas has a concussion, but I hope he’ll be here for our game.
“Alex (Isak) will hopefully play a little bit this weekend and he’s going to Spain on Monday,” Potter said of the overall squad. “I think we’ve picked a very good group with different qualities that we need.”
“With the help of Sebastian[Larson]and the rest of the staff, we took a good look at how everything worked in previous sessions and observed as many players as possible to identify what we need to add for the upcoming games.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check it out whenever you like. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
Sky Sports Premier League and EFL package discounts
£43
£35
sky
Get the deal here
Sky has reduced the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 on their bill and offering more than 1,400 live matches from the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will broadcast at least 215 live Premier League matches next season, with an increase of up to 100 more.
