Arsenal underlined their title credentials with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa on Tuesday, but Jamie Carragher was unconvinced by the performance of one of the Gunners’ stars.
Jamie Carragher has insisted that Victor Gokeres is not good enough for Arsenal if they have ambitions of winning the league. The Swede was signed from Sporting Lisbon in the summer for £55m.
There were hopes that he could finally lead Mikel Arteta’s side to the Premier League title after a number of narrow failures in recent campaigns. But Gökeres’ life in north London got off to a complicated start.
He has scored seven goals in 21 appearances in all competitions, but has scored just once in his last six league games. Despite Arsenal further strengthening their position at the top of the table with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa on Tuesday, Carragher insisted Gokeres could indeed be one of the weak links in their title bid.
“I’m a big fan of (Gabriel) Jesus,” he told Sky Sports. “He wasn’t always a great finisher, but he’s a great footballer. Probably the only downside of the night for Arsenal was that they shouldn’t have started Gokeres for Arsenal when they had a player like this (Jesus).”
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“After a few games, if Jesus gets a little more speed, he will be a better player than Gokeres, that’s true.
“I have wondered before, is he (Jesus) good enough to help Arsenal win the league? But he is now better than the player they brought in expecting to win the league.
“As a central striker at Arsenal, he and Havertz are better players than Gokeres. Gokeres is a really competitive player and I commend him for taking the penalty against Everton. He always looks really intense.
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“But considering what they have on the bench, I think he just lacks that finesse and quality. Don’t forget that City have[Erling]Haaland. So I think Arsenal need to improve on Gokeres. They have a player in Jesus who can improve on Gokeres.”
Arsenal will be keeping an eye on what rivals City are planning to do over the next few days. Josep Guardiola’s side will face newly promoted Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day. Arsenal are back in action at the weekend, traveling to Bournemouth before welcoming Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium later this month.
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