Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta shares plan to get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres

Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players they have a “big responsibility” to get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres. Arsenal ’s £64m striker drew a blank on his Premier League debut at Manchester United last Sunday when he did not even manage a shot on target.

That also comes on top of Gyokeres only having two weeks of training in pre-season because his protracted move from Sporting Lisbon meant he missed a huge chunk of Arsenal’s training and preparation for the season.

Sweden star Gyokeres was prolific at Sporting but must still be something of a risk because it is a big step up into the Premier League. But Arteta says that he has been pleased with his new striker so far and that is also up to Gyokeres’ teammates to ensure they connect and play to his strengths.

Gunners boss Arteta said: “I think we are going to be extremely happy when he starts to put the ball in the back of the net very, very often which is his biggest ability.

“So the team and myself, we have a big responsibility to help him and to understand him to be more efficient and the first game was a really demanding game and we will take it from there.

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“But I’ve seen in what has been a really short period because we’ve had to manage a lot of training sessions within that.” Gyokeres will be expected to hit the ground running against Leeds because Kai Havertz has now been ruled out injured for the next few weeks at least.

Arteta insists he was happy with the powerful centre forward’s performance at Old Trafford on Sunday as he battled but got little return from the United defenders.

He was substituted early without making his mark and Arteta says that was always a possibility. Arteta added: “Well, depending on how the game developed. And every game brings different challenges, opportunities.

“I think the game was very demanding physically, became really, really open for different reasons. And we decided that at that moment he did enough. And we had Kai on the bench to come and change the game.

“But he is ready to go again. He’s very, very enthusiastic. He trained really well this week. Again, he had another week under his belt, he looks in a really good place.”

The early plan was for Arsenal to blend Gyokeres into the team with Havertz also sharing duties but the Germany striker now faces a spell on the sidelines.

Arsenal are not certain how long Havertz is out for and whether he will need surgery on a knee issue. They hope it will calm down with rest and treatment but, worryingly, Arteta could not give a time frame.

Arteta added: “Unfortunately, he picked up an injury and we don't really know yet the extent of it. I think we need a bit more time and some more tests and after that we'll have more clarity about the next steps.

“I prefer not to talk about the specifics but he's not fit. As I said, we need to explore that issue a little bit further and then decide what we're going to do.

“The bad scenario is that he can't play tomorrow. I would love to have him fresh and available and bring what he brings to the team. Unfortunately, that's not going to be possible.”

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