Gary Lineker highlights why Viktor Gyokeres is struggling for Arsenal | OneFootball

Gary Lineker has suggested that Viktor Gyokeres’ reluctance to gamble in his attacking play as one of the key reasons why the Swede has struggled to get going at Arsenal.

Gyokeres warranted a £55m price tag when he was signed from Sporting CP in the summer after his stunning goalscoring exploits in Lisbon, but he has failed to replicate that during his first months in the Premier League, notching just five goals in 16 games in the English top flight.

Former England international striker Lineker believes that the 27-year-old has not been as daring as he should have been in front of goal, pinpointing this as a key reason for his shortcomings.

"I've watched him (Gyokeres) quite closely the last few weeks and I think he's like most strikers - he waits to see where the ball’s going, waits until it's crossed and then attacks the space,” Lineker said on The Rest Is Football. “That's what defenders do.

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Gary Lineker feels Viktor Gyokeres needs to gamble more with his movement (AFP via Getty Images)

“As a striker you got to gamble on where you think the ball might go and you go just as they're about to cross it. You steal a march on the defender that way and lots of the time the ball won't go there, but I don't see him doing that very often.”

Lineker highlights that such attacking movement has been demonstrated by man-of-the-moment Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has scored in six consecutive outings for Leeds.

“Dominic Calvert-Lewin did a perfect example of how to do that for the Leeds goal at Sunderland, perfect. He didn't wait and see where it was going to go,” he added.

“He went right, pulled away and then he sprinted at the near post and hoped that the ball would be delivered there and it was. I don't see that too often from Gyokeres at present, the players that score big numbers will do that. (Erling) Haaland, (Harry) Kane, (Robert) Lewandowski, they know how to make those kind of moves into those spaces.

“Is it something you can learn? I've always thought yes, but because it's actually common sense because it's law of probability when you think about it."