MIKEL ARTETA has warned Viktor Gyokeres that he should go somewhere else if he cannot deal with the pressure of a barren scoring run.
The 27-year-old has struck just three times since arriving from Sporting Lisbon and has gone six matches without a goal for Arsenal.
Add in two more blanks for Sweden during the international break and it is eight goalless games for Gyokeres, who signed in a £63.5m deal in the summer.
But Arteta has no doubts that Gyokeres will succeed.
The Spanish coach is still happy with the former Coventry striker’s performances and says his disastrous World Cup qualifying results with Sweden alongside Liverpool’s Alexander Isak proves you cannot take anything for granted.
Arteta said: “I’m very pleased with what he’s given to the team.
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“I told him before this press conference that the nine I want is a nine that if he doesn’t score for six or eight games, he can handle that.
“If not, you have to go somewhere else.
“So, if you put on a number nine shirt for Arsenal, you have to be able to say, ‘OK, six games, I don’t score. I’m a different player? I start to act in a different way?’
“I want much more of the same of what he’s doing. Once we have those opportunities, I’m sure it’s going to happen.
“It’s part of football. You see the history of the No 9s. You’re going to have moments like that. Hopefully, it’s through playing.
“His robustness is something really good. He is full of confidence and when you look at him every single day, you see how much he wants it.
“Viktor has so many things that probably are not noticeable. But as well, he creates environment and space and solutions to a lot of the players around him.
“And with the talent that we have in the team, I’m sure that everybody, him included, will benefit from that.
“There is no emotion there, he is just a very single-targeted mindset player, that’s what I love about him.
“He has not been a top striker in all of his career. His journey had bumps in the road. And when you go to a level, you’re going to have this.”
It would have helped Arsenal if Gyokeres had headed off to international duty and scored a few goals with Sweden.
Instead, alongside Isak who is also out of form, the Swedes lost 2-0 to Switzerland and then were beaten 1-0 at home by Kosovo and have no chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
Arteta said: “It is a good representation of what football is. Football is not a case of putting two players there and suddenly everything is fine.
“It does not work like this and it is a really good example of how tough this industry is and sport. Even with the best possible ingredients it is not enough to win.
“But I saw it yesterday in training. Viktor is more eager and determined to do what he has to do.”
But is he trying too hard? In the 2-0 win over West Ham two weeks ago, it looked like that.
Yet Arteta shook his head and disagreed. He said: “I don’t think so. I think he is in the right zone. He has been very unlucky.
“The more I watch of his action, the more I realise he has been very, very unlucky not to score another four or five goals, easily by now. They will come and at some time he will have the luck he did not have before.”
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Arteta, who is now the 10th longest-serving manager in Premier League history, claims skipper Martin Odegaard is in good spirits after his latest knee injury and should be back next month.
The Arsenal manager added: “He’s evolving well. What’s happening with him and his injuries this season is very unlucky.”
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