EMIRATES STADIUM — At full-time of Arsenal’s penultimate pre-season game against Villarreal, an instrumental version of 50 Cent’s Window Shopper ebbed from the speakers.
Viktor Gyokeres, a £63.5m buy from Sporting Lisbon last month, debuted as a sub against Spurs in Hong Kong, but this was his Emirates soft launch, 11 days out from Arsenal’s 2025-26 curtain-raiser at Old Trafford.
On the amble down Holloway Road, plenty had “Gyokeres 14” printed on the back of their crisp new replica shirts. Demand for that configuration was so high it temporarily caused Arsenal’s website to crash last week.
A couple of familiar faces spoiled the welcome party. Nicolas Pepe, who struggled after a big-money move to Arsenal, opened the scoring for the visitors, while one-time Tottenham loanee Arnaut Danjuma netted the winner.
Penalty box presence
He almost flattened Villarreal’s keeper Luiz Junior when attacking a cross in from the left, and generally made a beeline for the six-yard box whenever play developed down either flank.
Gyokeres had one shot on target against Villarreal (Photo: PA)Although Gyokeres’ record with his head is surprisingly poor – none of his 39 league strikes last season were headers – his bulky frame draws defenders and gives a target for his teammates to aim for.
After an inauspicious 40 minutes, Gyokeres sparked into life and produced a couple of promising moments, both after abandoning the centre.
Arsenal’s new No 14 has a Thierry Henry-like tendency to curve his runs into the left-hand channel, where he can cut in and get shots off. Here were brief glimpses of that threat.
Gyokeres eats up the pitch when there is space to run into, and his pace and directness in transition will be useful.
Mikel Merino spotted the run and Gyokeres reached his pass ahead of Bukayo Saka, before firing straight at Junior from an awkward angle.
It was Gyokeres’ only attempt on target and his last action of the game.
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Arteta made six changes at 62 minutes, including Gyokeres’ withdrawal.
Gyokeres looked leggier than most, perhaps understandably given the stop-start nature of his pre-season.
“Mentally and understanding what he needs to do, he will be 100 per cent or more [against Manchester United] because he’s so willing and so confident that he can deliver straight away.
Mini-Bane craze
Whenever the cameras inside the Emirates panned to children (and truthfully, some adults) in the stands, they invariably responded by clasping their fingers over their mouths.
Apparently an homage to Bane, the Batman supervillain performed by Tom Hardy, be prepared to see plenty of copycats throughout the season. As long as he’s scoring, of course.
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