£55m Arsenal star could make first PL start this season vs Leeds United after fresh injury
Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres could make his first start of the Premier League campaign against Leeds United following an untimely injury to Kai Havertz yesterday.
The Sweden international had a brilliant debut season with the Gunners last term. He netted an impressive 21 goals in all competitions as they won a long-awaited league title.
Despite this, he has fallen out of favour under manager Mikel Arteta this season, and has played just 29 minutes of league football in a couple of appearances.
Gyokeres has started in the Carabao Cup and Champions League games so far, but he has been an unused substitute in the league on three separate occasions.
Arsenal are still a few weeks away from hosting Leeds (October 10), but it could be Gyokeres’ first opportunity to start in the league for the club this campaign.
Havertz picked up an unfortunate hamstring injury on Nations League duty for Germany against the Netherlands yesterday, and he is due to leave his national team camp.
There is optimism that the injury sustained is not serious, but the 27-year-old is facing a race against time to face Leeds at the Emirates Stadium, given there is just a fortnight to recover.
Hence, it is more likely that Gyokeres could make his first league start of the season, and the Swede could relish facing Leeds, having scored his first Gunners goal against them last term.
The 28-year-old bagged a brace in a 5-0 rout of Leeds at the Emirates, and went on to score in a 4-0 victory at Elland Road. He could make his third straight start versus Leeds next month.
Arteta also has the option to play Mikel Merino as a makeshift number nine, but the Spanish tactician has generally utilised his compatriot upfront when the Gunners have had an injury crisis.
Hence, Gyokeres, who joined for an initial £55 million plus add-ons from Sporting CP last year, looks poised for his first league start of the season unless Havertz makes a complete recovery.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
The post £55m Arsenal star could make first PL start this season vs Leeds United after fresh injury first appeared on ArsenalNews.co.uk.