Arsenal told they can’t win the title with ‘okay’ Gyokeres – here’s why that’s utter bull

Joleon Lescott believes Arsenal are incapable of winning the title with just an ‘okay’ striker like Viktor Gyokeres leading the line, but TEAMtalk believes that’s claptrap.

The common consensus entering into the summer transfer window was Arsenal were just one potent new striker away from assembling a title-winning team. The Gunners pounced for Viktor Gyokeres who put up awe-inspiring numbers with Sporting CP in Portugal.

Gyokeres bagged 68 goals in 66 Primeira Liga matches for the Lisbon club. Given it’s no secret the Premier League is a much tougher league, no one is expecting Gyokeres to continue operating at a goal-per-game in England.

But according to former defender Joleon Lescott – who won two EPL titles with Manchester City – Gyokeres won’t turn Arsenal from challengers to champions.

“I would describe Victor Gyokeres as ‘okay’,” Lescott told Sky Bet. “If you’re going to win the league, your striker can’t be okay, he has to be top.

“I don’t think Mikel Arteta can get Arsenal over the line in the Premier League. But in the Champions League, it’s different.

“With the way he rotates and because of that big gap [before the knockout stages], no one knows what kind of form or fitness teams will be in.

“That suits Arsenal better than having to be consistently good every single week to win the league.”

Is Lescott speaking the truth? In TEAMtalk’s mind, absolutely not…

Why Gyokeres CAN fire Arsenal to first title in 20+ years

Arsenal entered the current campaign having finished runners-up in three successive seasons. The respective gaps to first place over the past three years were five points, two points and 10 points.

The key here is to look at precisely where those points were dropped. As Arsenal fans were rightly proud of up until the streak ended at the hands of Liverpool earlier this season, the Gunners have performed exceedingly well against the toughest opponents.

In fact, Arsenal went unbeaten in 22 matches against members of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ before defeat at Anfield, which came via a largely unrepeatable free-kick from Dominik Szoboszlai.

Arsenal have proven they can and often will pick up draws and wins against their biggest rivals even without Gyokeres in the team.

As such, it should be of little concern if the Swede makes little-to-no impact in those games. In the 1-1 draw with Manchester City, for example, Gyokeres posted figures of 0.00 expected goals and 0.01 expected assists… yet Arsenal didn’t lose the game.

The bigger issue for the Gunners in recent seasons laid in dropping points against teams they should have swept aside and those are the types of games Gyokeres will thrive in.

His three Premier League goals so far have come against newly-promoted Leeds United and a badly struggling Nottingham Forest.

The term ‘flat-track bully’ is generally associated with being a negative one, but it’s exactly what Arsenal needed.

Looking solely at last season, Arsenal dropped points against Brighton (twice), Bournemouth (twice), Fulham, Everton (twice), West Ham, Brentford and Crystal Palace.

Not one of those teams mentioned finished high enough to even qualify for European football. Yet only in one of those 10 matches did Arsenal score more than one goal and on three occasions, they were kept scoreless.

Gyokeres lacks the guile or explosive pace to regularly get the better of the top class defences the biggest teams field.

But against teams half way down the Premier League and below, Gyokeres will feast and that’s exactly what Arsenal need.

VOTE: How many goals will Gyokeres score this season? ⬇️

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