How Good Is Arsenal Target Viktor Gyökeres? ...Middle East

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at England Women’s Euro 2025 loss to France, Viktor Gyökeres, and expected assists.

Welcome to this week’s Stat, Viz, Quiz.

Before we begin, everyone at Opta Analyst would like to send our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva following their tragic passing last week.

We did not believe it was appropriate to write anything about either player in the aftermath of what happened. If you would like to read something on Jota to celebrate the impact he had on the Premier League, though, we analysed his outstanding finishing ability back in January 2024.

In this week’s SVQ we’ll be looking at England’s losing start at Women’s Euro 2025, Arsenal’s apparent striker target Viktor Gyökeres, and expected assists.

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.

STAT – Lionesses Have It All to Do

Despite the absence of high-profile players Mary Earps, Fran Kirby and Millie Bright, there was plenty of optimism heading into Euro 2025 for reigning champions England, especially fresh off a 7-0 thrashing of Jamaica in their final warm-up game.

However, Sarina Wiegman’s side got off to a losing start at the tournament in Switzerland on Saturday, beaten 2-1 by an impressive France performance.

First-half strikes from Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore gave the French a two-goal lead, and despite a late fightback from England that saw Keira Walsh halve the deficit, Les Bleues held on for the three points.

Walsh’s 87th-minute goal was the Lionesses’ first shot on target, and one of only two they managed in the whole game from 12 shots.

It meant England became the first team to lose their opening match at a UEFA Women’s Euro tournament as the reigning champions.

It was only Wiegman’s third defeat in 27 major tournament games as a manager with the Netherlands and England (W23 D1 – World Cup/Euros), along with the 2019 and 2023 FIFA World Cup finals.

England suffered their first group-stage loss in a major tournament since losing their opening game of the 2015 World Cup, which was also against France (1-0), ending a run of 14 consecutive victories in the group phase.

It should be remembered that they were up against impressive opposition. France have won all nine of their competitive matches in 2025 by an aggregate score of 24-5, while they are unbeaten in each of their last 14 major tournament group games (W10 D4).

Wiegman must now ensure her team gets something from their second game, which coincidentally will be against her former side and country of birth, the Netherlands. If the Lionesses can win on Wednesday in Zurich, they will be back on track to qualify from Group D, with their final game coming against debutants Wales on Sunday.

VIZ – Gyökeres the Gunner?

Arsenal’s long wait for a striker may finally be over. With everyone anticipating the addition of a number nine this summer, reports suggest that figure may well be Sporting CP star Viktor Gyökeres.

But would the Sweden international suit the Gunners, and what does he offer?

Well, goals for one thing.

He has previous experience in English football, albeit not in the Premier League. After a spell at Brighton & Hove Albion in which he barely played and a short loan at Swansea City, Gyökeres scored 38 goals in 94 Championship games for Coventry City across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, earning admiring glances from across Europe.

Gyökeres joined Sporting for a reported fee of around £20 million in the summer of 2023, before scoring a whopping 43 goals in 50 games in all competitions in his first season. He followed that up with an even more impressive 54 goals in 52 games in 2024-25, including 39 in 33 Primeira Liga matches.

Arsenal fans hoping for a striker with high shot volume may be excited at the prospect of Gyökeres joining. The 27-year-old attempted 4.5 shots per 90 minutes on average in the Primeira Liga last season, while Gabriel Jesus averaged 3.0 and Kai Havertz 2.6 in the Premier League.

Gyökeres had impressive accuracy as well, with a shot conversion rate (excluding blocked shots and penalties) of 27.3%. By comparison, in the Premier League last season, top scorer Mohamed Salah had a conversion rate of 21.1%, while Erling Haaland’s was 21.6% and Gyökeres’ compatriot Alexander Isak ended with 26.4%.

The only Premier League player to boast a better conversion rate (minimum four goals scored) was Chris Wood (32.1%). Havertz (20.5%) and Jesus (18.8%) were well behind.

Gyökeres is not just a striker who stands between the posts and thinks only of his goals. He is a creator for others, too, ranking second for chances created from open play in the Primeira Liga last season (60).

He often drops deep so he can pick up the ball and move with it. Only two players in Portugal’s top flight attempted more dribbles than Gyökeres’ 130 last season, while he ranked third for long progressive carries (128) – carrying the ball at least 10 metres upfield.

Will Gyökeres be able to do it in the Premier League? It is a question worth asking as there are several examples of players who scored plenty of goals in Portugal but who were unable to repeat the trick in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Keep an eye on the Opta Analyst website this week for more on Gyökeres’ potential move to the Emirates Stadium.

QUIZ – Biggest Wins

In this week’s quiz we’re asking about some of the biggest margins of victory in Premier League history. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. Only one team managed to score at least seven goals in a single game in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992-93. Who was it, who did they play, and what was the score?

2. No team has ever scored more than nine goals in a Premier League game. How many instances have there been of a team scoring nine times in a match in the competition?

3. Who are the only team to concede nine goals on two separate occasions in the Premier League?

4. How many times have Manchester United scored at least eight goals in a Premier League game?

5. Chelsea won their last game of the season 8-0 in 2009-10 to clinch the Premier League title. Who did they beat that day?

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from Lewis R, who asks: “I was interested to see in SVQ last week that Bryan Mbeumo had the highest expected assist total in the PL last season. Do you know who had the most in the other big European leagues?”

Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at [email protected] or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.

Answer:

We do, Lewis. Expected assists (xA), for those unaware, measures the likelihood that a given pass will become an assist, and is similar to expected goals (xG), which measure the chances of a shot being a goal.

It rewards players who pass into dangerous areas, regardless of whether the receiver takes a shot or not. xA is measured on a scale between zero and one, where zero represents a pass that will never result in an assist and one represents a pass that the receiver would be expected to score from every single time. You can read a more detailed explanation here.

In La Liga, Álex Baena of Villarreal recorded the highest xA last season (12.6). Baena has recently joined Atlético Madrid, and we wrote about him a few months ago.

In the Bundesliga it was Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise (12.5) in his debut season for the German giants after his move from Crystal Palace.

Manchester City new boy Rayan Cherki recorded the highest xA in Ligue 1 for now former club Lyon (11.7), while in Serie A it was Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman (7.9).

Our Opta data hubs have detailed team and player stats, predictions, expected league tables and much more. Click below to start your own data investigations of last season’s Premier League, or you can dive into our data on the FIFA Club World Cup here.

What Are We Up to at Opta Analyst?

Here’s some of our latest data-driven offerings:

Related Posts

Man Utd Squad Audit: Ruben Amorim Hoping For a Summer of Change

Championship Fixtures: Who Has the Toughest Start to 2025-26?

As Arsenal Hunt for More Creativity Out Wide, Should They Stick or Twist With Gabriel Martinelli?

Quiz Answers

1. Only one team managed to score at least seven goals in a single game in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992-93. Who was it, who did they play, and what was the score?

Blackburn Rovers 7-1 Norwich City (3 October 1992)

2. No team has ever scored more than nine goals in a Premier League game. How many instances have there been of a team scoring nine times in a match in the competition?

Five

3. Who are the only team to concede nine goals on two separate occasions in the Premier League?

Southampton (vs Leicester City in 2019-20 and vs Manchester United in 2020-21)

4. How many times have Manchester United scored at least eight goals in a Premier League game?

Four – no other team has done so more than twice

5. Chelsea won their last game of the season 8-0 in 2009-10 to clinch the Premier League title. Who did they beat that day?

Wigan Athletic

Before You Go…

Enjoying Stat, Viz, Quiz? Think it needs improvement? Send us your feedback to [email protected].

How Good Is Arsenal Target Viktor Gyökeres? Opta Analyst.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How Good Is Arsenal Target Viktor Gyökeres? )

Also on site :

• Couple Bring Cat To Vet, Realize Something Heartbreaking Once They Arrive
• Ukrainian teachers told to pretend they can’t speak Russian
• Kylie Jenner’s Stunning European Vacation Snapshots Are Giving Us Major Life Goals Envy