Rooney hails ‘really clever’ Gyokeres skill as Arsenal striker ‘solves problem’ for Arteta | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney says Viktor Gyokeres kept doing something “really clever” against Fulham as Ian Wright hailed the Arsenal striker for “solving a problem”.

Gyokeres joined Arsenal from Sporting for £55m in the summer and his brace against Fulham took him to 21 goals in all competitions in his debut season.

The Swede has been criticised for much of his first Gunners campaign, but after his standout showing on Saturday, which gave Arsenal a six-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, Rooney hailed the striker’s display and some “really clever” movement.

“So normally you see forwards wanting that space in the penalty box, but what he does here, which is really clever, he almost goes and marks himself,” Rooney said on Match of the Day.

“He gets really tight with the Fulham defender and now his run is smaller. So if Saka crossed that ball in right here, it’s a one-yard run and then he gets across the defender, but he doesn’t. Great skill by Saka.

“He readjusts his body. Now he’s in full control of the defender. The defender’s flat footed, and again it’s a one-yard run. He wrestled with the defender. But that little one yard run gets him in the middle of the goal for a nice tap in and his movement was very clever today all day.

“And as we see right here this running behind good centre-forward play keeping the Fulham defenders on their toes.”

Gyokeres has ‘solved problem’ for Arsenal

Arsenal hero Ian Wright believes Gyokeres has “solved a problem” for his former side despite the significant criticism he’s received this term.

Wright told Premier League Live: “People have been saying for many years Arsenal need to get a striker. Then we get the striker and people say he’s not good enough.

“You have to say 21 goals, obviously 12 in the Premier League, says that he’s done the job for us.

“He did the job for us today and I’m sure against the teams we’ve got coming like West Ham, I think he could probably put in the same kind of performance and probably nick another couple of goals.

“If he only scores against those kind of teams that’s what Arsenal have always needed.

“They don’t have problems scoring against the top six, it’s the other teams like the Fulhams and the Wolves and the teams like that we’ve had problems scoring against.

“He’s come in and he’s kind of solved that problem for us.”

Wright was also encouraged by Gyokeres’ link-up play with Bukayo Saka.

He added: “Yes, they haven’t played together much unfortunately because of the injuries that we had, but there are relationships that I really enjoyed today.”