Alan Shearer admitted he was ‘pretty alarmed’ by Viktor Gyokeres’ lack of involvement before he ended his drought with two goals in Arsenal’s Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid.
The Gunners scored four second-half goals to thrash Atletico at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night and maintain their perfect record in the Champions League.
Little separated the Premier League and La Liga sides during a quiet first half and Gyokeres struggled to get into the game, touching the ball just nine times.
Arsenal asserted their dominance after the break, taking the lead from a set-piece when Gabriel Magalhaes headed home Declan Rice’s inviting cross.
Gabriel Martinelli doubled Arsenal’s lead just after the hour mark, slotting past Jan Oblak following a superb run from Myles Lewis-Skelly.
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Gyokeres then ended his nine-game drought with Arsenal’s third as his scuffed shot deflected off an Atletico defender and squeezed into the bottom corner.
The goal was Gyokeres’ first in over 600 minutes of football but he only had to wait three for his next as he tapped home after Arsenal caused chaos with another corner.
Speaking at half-time, Premier League record goalscorer Shearer said he wanted ‘more’ from Gyokeres in the final third.
‘I would like to see them involve Viktor Gyokeres more,’ Shearer said on Amazon Prime. ‘He’s only had nine touches, none in the box.
‘That’s pretty alarming for any centre forward at any level. They need to get him in the game and find him a little bit earlier. There’s no problem with his work-rate , his closing down and his defensive duties.
‘But they haven’t paid that money for him just to work hard and do defensive duties. They paid that money for him to score goals so they need to feed him more.’
After Gyokeres’ fortuitous first goal, Shearer said: ‘He won’t care one bit, all that matters is getting the ball in the back of the net.
‘He won’t care how that’s gone in! He’s put a shift in and you can hear the response from the fans when he closes down defenders.
‘He deserves that little bit of luck in front of goal and it will do his confidence the world of good.’
Gyokeres, who Arsenal signed from Sporting for £64m, received a standing ovation from the Arsenal fans as he was subbed off late on.
Shearer added: ‘He wasn’t a goal threat in the first half but the fans appreciated his hark work and defensive duties.
‘He’s going to get judged on goals so for him to get two in the second half will do his confidence the world of good.’
More to follow…
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