Arsenal 2-3 Villarreal (Norgaard 36′, Odegaard pen 76′; Pepe 16′, Eyong 35′, Danjuma 68′)
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.
An ironic choice, perhaps, given the company Amex has been used liberally this summer. At long last, Arsenal fans got a peek at the pricey new striker they hope can fire them to a first Premier League title since 2004.
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.
Gyokeres’ arrival has naturally generated plenty of excitement among the fanbase, given his prolific spell in Portugal.
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.
There were two Scandi scorers in Arsenal red, but not from the one everyone wanted. The Dane, Christian Norgaard, notched on his first home appearance, with Norwegian Martin Odegaard on target from the penalty spot. Alas, there was nothing this time for the Swede.
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.
Here are five takeaways from Gyokeres’ first game:
Penalty box presence
Despite registering few early touches, Gyokeres showed that he can provide something Arsenal have often lacked: a 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)Arsenal ranked third in the Premier League for attempted crosses last season.
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.
Left side drift
After an inauspicious 40 minutes, Gyokeres sparked into life and produced a couple of promising moments, both after abandoning the centre.
There was a snapshot from just inside the area that was blocked after he had manoeuvred a half-yard of room. Then came a barrelling run to the byline and a cross into a POMO where no teammate had dared to run into.
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.
Runs in behind
Gyokeres eats up the pitch when there is space to run into, and his pace and directness in transition will be useful.
There were limited chances for him to get in behind Villarreal’s low-block defence, but he did breach their defensive line once with a sharp piece of movement and acceleration.
Mikel Merino spotted the run and Gyokeres reached his pass ahead of Bukayo Saka, before firing straight at Junior from an awkward angle.
“I already saw a lot of purpose, especially the way he was attacking certain spaces,” Mikel Arteta said.
It was Gyokeres’ only attempt on target and his last action of the game.
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Off the pace
Arteta made six changes at 62 minutes, including Gyokeres’ withdrawal.
It was clearly a pre-game plan aimed at keeping his players fresh ahead of the big kick-off next week.
Gyokeres looked leggier than most, perhaps understandably given the stop-start nature of his pre-season.
“He’s done five or six sessions now before today, so I think for Saturday [‘s fixture against Athletic Bilbao] he will take another step [forward] and be in better condition,” Arteta said.
“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.
“I have no doubts that he will be in a really good place.”
Mini-Bane craze
Naturally, given that he has an unusual and distinctive celebration, plenty of Arsenal fans took the opportunity to masquerade as Gyokeres by mimicking it.
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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