Gyökeres’ gifts of bundling and poaching suggest Arsenal have found the real thing

At times during a difficult start to his first season at Arsenal Viktor Gyökeres looked more likely to fall over than score a Premier League goal. Against Sunderland he found a third way: he fell over while scoring. The strike was his first touch, seven minutes after coming on, and prompted a rueful smile as he was warmly mobbed by teammates, turning a routine finish into a wholesome moment.

The goal came at the end of a slick, Arsenal-style move. Declan Rice pressed in the right‑back position, Leandro Trossard dropped off and played an instant pass to Kai Havertz, who eased the ball into Gyökeres’s stride as his left foot gave way on the mulchy surface and the ball thumped low into the net.

Shortly afterwards Gyökeres’s second touch involved bumping Noah Sadiki to the floor and then chasing a return pass — poaching and what the piece calls an expert flex of his rump, the kind of physical, opportunistic play Arsenal do not often deploy but signed him for.