Carragher just made Gyökeres point that's impossible for Arsenal fans to ignore

Viktor Gyökeres failed to get on the scoresheet for the second game in a row in today's draw with Manchester City at the Emirates.

Gyökeres has come in for plenty of criticism for his poor performances against the top teams. He was virtually anonymous at United and Liverpool. Today, against Machester City, he failed to register even a shot and had just 24 touches.

Throughout last season, Arsenal have bemoaned their lack of a centre-forward. Now that they have one, it seems that they can't quite work out how to get the best out of him. Some are already suggesting that he's just not Arsenal class.

Carragher takes a different angle on Gyökeres

Jamie Carragher took a different perspective in his appraisal of Gyökeres after today's match live on Sky. He told the watching audience that Gyökeres' poor form is simply down to the fact that Arsenal don't create enough chances.

It's an interesting stance to take and one that to be fair to Carragher is difficult to ignore. You could count on one hand how many balls came into the box from wide or were threaded through down the centre.

A lack of productive width and the lack of an attacking midfielder who can link up the play, has been at the centre of these attacking issues for Arsenal. Martin Odegaard's shoulder injury problems and Bukayo Saka' absence has made things worse.

Asking Mikel Merino to link up play behind a central striker hasn't worked and the only joy that Arsenal have really been getting has been down the right hand side through Noni Madueke.

That alone, is not enough service for Gyökeres to feed off. The Swede has been starved in the big games and has done pretty well from the scraps in the games that Arsenal were expected to win.

It's still too early to judge Gyökeres

For an assessment of Gyökeres to be fair and accurate, fans and pundits alike should wait until Saka, Madueke and Eze are all in the side. If the goals don't come with these three on the pitch then it's probably never going to happen.

The question of whether Arsenal create enough chances for a central striker is best answered in the xG stats. Arsenal's xG average in the EPL is 1.48, placing them fourth highest in the table behind Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea – in that order.

Furthermore, if you take the xG of Gyökeres, he is also placed fourth out of Premier League players with a total xG of 2.66. Not bad, right? That roughly equates to the three goals that he's scored in the league. What's Carragher talking about, you might ask.

Does Carragher really have a point?

Sadly though, Carragher does have a point. It's just a bit more nuanced than he says. More simply put, Arsenal don't create enough chances in the big games – at least not for Gyökeres. Against United, Liverpool, and City, Gyökeres' xG was zero! He didn't get a sniff in those games.

Things were marginally better in the Champions League match against Villareal where his xG was 0.45, that's before he was hauled off.

Against the weaker teams that Arsenal have faced, Leeds and Forest, Gyökeres' xG has risen to 1.28 and 0.84 respectively.

Carragher does have a point. After five games, Arsenal have not created enough chances for their new striker in three out of five games. Only against weaker opposition are Arsenal creating anywhere near enough chances for Gyökeres. Even then, Gyökeres s feeding off scraps and Arsenal need to do better.