Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has thrown his support behind striker Viktor Gyökeres, insisting it is only a matter of time before the Swedish forward begins finding the net regularly.
The 27-year-old has now gone five matches without scoring, including Wednesday night’s 2-0 Champions League win over Olympiacos at the Emirates Stadium.
While Gyökeres was once again frustrated in front of goal, his influence was clear—his deflected effort struck the post, allowing Gabriel Martinelli to pounce on the rebound for Arsenal’s opener.
Speaking after the game, Arteta praised his striker’s overall display:
“What I sense is that he’s doing better and better things every game.
He was denied a few times with blocks, and then he hit the post, but I think overall his performance was exceptional.
Again, his work was really good, and yeah, we want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn’t do that,
at least to do everything as he’s doing for the team, because he’s helping the team a lot.”
With Arsenal preparing to host struggling West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday, Arteta hopes the fixture could be the turning point for Gyökeres.
“I don’t know, but hopefully, yes, and hopefully it will be on Saturday,” the Spaniard added.
Bukayo Saka came off the bench to secure the win with Arsenal’s second goal, ensuring the Gunners maintained their perfect start to the Champions League group stage with six points from two games.
Meanwhile, summer signing Martin Zubimendi reflected on his first European night at the Emirates.
“I’m really happy. The atmosphere was amazing. We scored two and kept a clean sheet.
No striker has taken more shots without scoring in the #UCL than Arsenal's Viktor Gyökeres ⛔ pic.twitter.com/6GERK94b8P
— LiveScore (@livescore) October 2, 2025
It was really demanding. We started really well but at the end they pushed a lot in the second half.
I think we suffered in some moments where we shouldn’t have. We want to keep the momentum and win as many games as possible. We will recover well and prepare for the next game against West Ham.”
Arsenal remain unbeaten across all competitions this season, with Gyökeres’ breakthrough goal potentially the only thing missing from an otherwise encouraging campaign so far.