Arsenal fans have all been making the same point about Viktor Gyokeres after he scored his first goal for the club in Saturday’s friendly win over Athletic Bilbao.
The Gunners wrapped up their pre-season programme in emphatic fashion as they ran out 3-0 winners over the Basque side before triumphing in the ensuing shootout.
Viktor Gyokeres opened his account for Arsenal in front of the delighted home fans, heading home in the 34th minute from Martin Zubimendi’s cross.
Bukayo Saka then added a second just two minutes later, being set up by Gabriel Martinelli to slot home after Unai Simon was caught out of position.
Kai Havertz wrapped up the scoring late on when he pounced on a loose ball before charging on to fire across Simon in the Athletic net.
Although there were plenty of players who did well on the day, the spotlight was firmly on Gyokeres as he opened his account for his new employers.
Not only did Arsenal fans love the fact Gyokeres scored, but that he did so with his head, which is not his usual way of scoring.
One fan wrote on X: “How ironic that Gyokeres, who didn’t score much with his head at Sporting, scores his first goal for Arsenal with a finish sir @9smudge [Alan Smith] would have been happy with…”
Another said: “Ironic how the first goal by Viktor Gyokeres was a beautifully headed goal into the net, something fans and pundits have criticized him for lacking aerial prowess.”
The praise for Gyokeres’ headed goal kept coming, with one fan writing: “They said he wasn’t a good header of the ball. How ironic.”
Another supporter said: “I can’t lie, Zubimendi is gonna cook this season, he’s such an intelligent player, and as for Gyokeres, how ironic that his first goal for us was scored with his head.
“Good game so far, those diagonals from Gabriel and Saliba are gonna do major damage this season.”
Another said: “Kinda ironic that Gyokeres scored a header and Havertz a solo transition goal.”
Gyokeres has scored 174 senior goals at club level over the course of his career, along with 15 for the Sweden senior team, according to Transfermarkt.
In terms of the club goals Gyokeres has scored, 12 have been headers.
Three of those were scored at Brommapojkarna in the 2016/17 season while one was for Swansea City in 2020/21.
A further three were for Coventry in the two seasons he was there, and four were in the green and white of Sporting.
This shows Gyokeres has been steadily improving with his head, which certainly bodes well for his time at Arsenal.
