Could this finally be Arsenal’s year? Certainly, Mikel Arteta’s side have started the season strongly, imperious in defence and well-oiled across the park.
In the Premier League and out on the continent too, the Gunners are proving their mettle, and with 13 points from 15 possible in recent league clashes, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about what is to come in north London.
Arteta has already earned his flowers as one of Europe’s finest tacticians, and though he is still searching for silverware after winning the FA Cup shortly into his reign five years ago, the Spaniard’s genius cannot be understated, having fashioned the Emirates back into a superpower.
Now, the onus is on crowning this exciting era with silverware. Arsenal, after all, boast one of the finest, most complete squads in the country, and the acquisition of Viktor Gyokeres seems to have filled the long-standing hole at number nine.
He’s had his criticisms, these first few months back in England, but the Sweden international is undoubtedly a top-class striker.
Viktor Gyokeres' start at Arsenal
Long and frustrating was Arsenal’s search for an elite centre-forward. But they have snagged their man, ending the long wait this summer when securing Gyokeres’ signature, signing him from Sporting Lisbon for £63m.
The 27-year-old once failed to cut the mustard at Brighton & Hove Albion, but he was a star for Coventry City in the Championship and he scored 97 goals across 102 matches in two years with Sporting, winning the Liga Portugal title both terms.
He’s been something of a mixed bag for Arsenal so far this term, having gone four matches without a goal in the league after netting three from four to start the campaign off; however, his brace against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League this week emphasised his ability in the final third, a physical, commanding focal point.
Early on, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville remarked that Gyokeres would be a handful for many Premier League defences this season, but that he might struggle against the cream of the Premier League crop.
Gyokeres is good enough to score goals against any opponent, but there’s a ring of truth to this, for sure. He lacks the technical fluency of, say, Kai Havertz, who in turn does not boast the same kind of goalscoring sharpness as the summer recruit.
Arteta has options up top, but all this has got us thinking of what-could-have-been down at the Emirates, with Arsenal letting one of the finest strikers in world football slip away before he had even come close to breaking through the surface on the professional stage.
The former Arsenal prospect who's now better than Gyokeres
When you think of England captain and striking superstar Harry Kane, you think quite quickly of Tottenham Hotspur. Kane is, after all, Spurs’ club-record goalscorer.
But, the not-quite-so-little-known fact of his days being schooled with Arsenal, having been reared as a youngster among the bottom floors of the Hale End academy before being released and finding a new home with the Lilywhites.
The rest is history. Outscored only by Alan Shearer in the Premier League and miles ahead as the Three Lions’ top scorer in history, Kane is one of the greatest forwards of his generation, now leading the line at Bayern Munich after many years of service in his homeland.
It’s futile to look at all the up-and-coming prospects and keep all within your grasp as a professional football club. Furthermore, it’s easy to use hindsight to criticise the departure of one who grows into a “world-class striker”, as Kane has been hailed by statistician Statman Dave, among many more.
But it’s a rueful one all the same, especially considering who the striker ended up with, where he made his name.
Kane’s is a narrative that tells itself. Long without silverware at Tottenham, he nonetheless forged incredible individual success, scoring so many goals for club and country.
But the move to Bayern Munich has been a fruitful one. Now he has tasted silverware. Now his stock is rising higher still. After a prolific debut campaign in Bavaria, the 32-year-old has taken his game up another notch, and defences across the continent simply can’t cope.
Harry Kane
7
12
Erling Haaland
8
11
Kylian Mbappe
9
10
Joaquin Panichelli
8
7
Antoine Semenyo
8
6
Mason Greenwood
8
6
Julian Alvarez
9
6
Arsenal showed through the summer signing of Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace that they are willing to welcome former Hale End talents back to the club. However, Kane’s connection to Tottenham may preclude him from making that move, should he come back to the Premier League in the next few years.
Should that hypothetical scenario be realised, though, there’s no question that Kane would prove an upgrade on Gyokeres, taking the #14 shirt from the Swede. Not just a deadly, unstoppable goalscorer, the veteran is one of the finest technicians around, able to drop deep and influence play with a wide range of passes.
As per FBref, he actually ranks among the top 7% of strikers across Europe for shot-creating actions and the top 6% for progressive passes per 90.
Arteta has yet to realise the crowning achievement that many anticipate is coming, building, toward a crescendo. With Gyokeres completing the attacking set, Arsenal have the tools to get the job done.
But with Kane leading the line, there’s no telling how high Arteta’s side might reach.
