Rio Ferdinand questions Viktor Gyokeres after Arsenal training footage emerges

Viktor Gyokeres will set out in an effort to score his first Premier League goal this weekend but footage of the striker in Arsenal training prompted some questions

Arsenal new boy Viktor Gyokeres had a difficult Premier League debut for the club, drawing a blank against Manchester United and failing to register a single shot. The Gunners shared a more positive clip of the striker in a training session, but it will take more than that to impress pundit Rio Ferdinand.

In a clip from a training session shared on social media, Gyokeres can be seen collecting the ball, finding space and firing home a shot at the near post. As pointed out by many watching the footage, though, the marking leaves a bit to be desired.

“Pascal Cygan marking him?” asked Ferdinand, referring to the 51-year-old former Arsenal defender who retired in 2011. And Ferdinand wasn’t the only one to comment on the marking as much as the goal.

“Why wasn’t [William] Saliba marking him?” asked one fan. Another urged the club to already look for an upgrade on the £64m signing, saying “bring Nicolas Jackson”.

A third was more direct, saying: “Takes six touches in the box and two business days to pull the trigger. Is he gonna get that time and space in the Premier League? The answer’s no.”

READ MORE: Kai Havertz suffers fresh injury blow as Arsenal launch emergency transfer planREAD MORE: Arsenal set to beat Tottenham to £68m Eberechi Eze transfer as agreement struck

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta took the positives from Gyokeres’ league debut despite the lack of goal threat. “He did a lot of things very good,” the manager told reporters after the win.

“You can tell, especially in our high pressing, the rhythm that we demand, especially in the first half, we’re giving a bit too much time. It’s something that we have to work on, especially there.

“And then in the finalising situation, he didn’t have that many chances to do that because, as I said, on the previous action before we had to play that last ball that the line was standing still with 40 metres behind, we managed to put the ball through to exploit his quality. But overall, coming away to Manchester United, winning your first game with Arsenal, it’s a good start.”

Arsenal will return to action on Saturday tea-time, with Leeds United coming to the Emirates Stadium. Daniel Farke’s newly promoted side also got off to a winning start, thanks to a late Felix Nmecha penalty against Everton.

By the time that match kicks off, Arsenal could have a new signing available in the form of Eberechi Eze. However, they are due to be without Kai Havertz for the fixture after the German international picked up a knee injury.

According to The Athletic, Arsenal are continuing to assess Havertz to determine how long he will be out for. The German only returned to action in the final month of last season, having missed three months with an unrelated hamstring injury.

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