Viktor Gyökeres' best trait is his most overlooked by Arsenal fans

This is not another Arsenal column asking, “Is Viktor Gyökeres a flop?” Despite a dry spell that lasted through the season’s early months, the Swedish striker with the Hungarian name so far has scored 13 goals in 32 games, a perfectly respectable strike rate. While everyone is picking over questions about whether the Gunners play better with or without him, we’re focusing on a different aspect of his game.

Viktor Gyökeres is Arsenal's iron man

Avoiding the injury bug is a key feature of any club’s season-long campaign, especially when that involves fighting on several fronts. Fans and reporters tend to bewail when a team suffers myriad injuries that keep players out of action, but they don’t often appreciate their good fortune when their team stays relatively injury-free.

That’s where Arsenal’s new Number 14 comes in. His injury history is enviably clean, as the spell of games that he missed in November because of a hamstring issue is the most he’s ever been out. He did require surgery on his left knee in May 2024 when he was still with Sporting Lisbon, but his recovery time coincided with the offseason, so the only matches he missed were two for Sweden.

The days of players starting every game for a club are long gone, and most coaches now recognize that players who are always physically fit still might require an occasional rest over the course of a grueling season to prevent mental burnout. 

That only makes a durable player like Gyökeres more valuable. Sometimes Arsenal matches up better by playing a traditional Number 9 striker like him, and sometimes they match up better without a forward who powers through opposing defenses. Regardless, he gives the team assurance that should another member of the offense need to miss time, he can step in and give the Gunners known qualities while Coach Mikel Arteta reconfigures the offense around him. 

With his speed and comfort operating from the touchline, he could even play on the wing if need be, interchanging positions with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, or Eberechi Eze. Another aspect of soccer that’s consigned to the past is teams predictably trotting out the same lineup for match after match. 

Much like NBA teams, soccer clubs have learned the value of confusing opposing defenses by shuffling players into different roles within the same system. Gyökeres will usually be found positioned at the tip of the spear, as soccer-heads like to say, but his constant presence ironically contributes to the variety of Arsenal’s attack.