‘Embarrassing’ – Mikel Arteta urged to drop Arsenal star after Chelsea cup win

Mikel Arteta has been advised to put Viktor Gyokeres at the ‘bottom of the pile’ after his ‘embarrassing’ contribution to Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Chelsea.

The Gunners booked their place in March’s Carabao Cup final with a 4-2 aggregate win over Club World Cup holders and London rivals Chelsea.

Arsenal had a one-goal advantage in the tie after winning 3-2 at Stamford Bridge and nullified dangerous Chelsea in the home leg.

A goalless stalemate looked inevitable before Arsenal settled the tie in injury-time through ex-Chelsea star Kai Havertz’s counterattack goal.

Havertz started on the bench but came on for Gyokeres with 20 minutes remaining after a subdued performance from the £64m Arsenal summer signing.

Gyokeres had scored four goals in six games before Wednesday’s clash against Chelsea but this was another step back from the former Sporting striker, according to ex-Arsenal midfielder Stewart Robson, Liverpool legend Steve Nicol and former Venezuela forward Alejandro Moreno.

‘Viktor Gyokeres has been giving six months now,’ Nicol told ESPN. ‘Mikel Arteta has giving him six months to separate himself from [Gabriel] Jesus, [Kai] Havertz and [Mikel] Merino.

‘I was trying to defend him at the start because the way Arsenal play isn’t exactly helpful for a centre forward but I still thought he was good enough to score goals.

‘I thought he was good enough to get some goals out of nothing but so far he hasn’t been able to do any of those things and he hasn’t been able to separate himself from Jesus, Havertz or Merino.

‘So if you’re Mikel Arteta before every game you’ve got a decision to make. Gyokeres should actually probably be going to the back of the queue now because you have to contribute somewhere and he’s not at the moment.

‘With Jesus and Havertz, they absolutely contribute outside of the box. So I said he hasn’t separated himself from the other forwards, he might actually be at the bottom of the pile right now.’

Former Arsenal Player of the Season Robson agrees that Gyokeres should come out of the team and believes Jesus will be called upon to start this weekend’s Premier League game against Sunderland.

The Gunners, chasing a first league title since 2004, boast a six-point lead at the top of the table ahead of Saturday’s clash with impressive Sunderland.

Asked whether Gyokeres’ performance against Chelsea will renew the conversation over his place in the team, Robson said: ‘It certainly does because Gyokeres once again did only okay.

‘The commentator said he only touched the ball once in the first 30 minutes and that tells you he either wasn’t making enough runs or his teammates weren’t looking forward enough.

‘It’s probably both but you want him to be more involved in the game, he’s got to run the channels and be stronger when the ball comes up to him.

‘When the ball went the other way Joao Pedro did more than Gyokeres did, he doesn’t seem to be able to hold the ball up at the moment and bring others into play whereas Joao Pedro did it quite often for Chelsea.

‘There’s still some work for him to do. Last year we were saying Kai Havertz isn’t a good enough centre forward but maybe he goes back to that role because Gyokeres hasn’t done good enough.

‘We said they didn’t win the title because they haven’t got a proper centre forward, they’ve got one now who cost a lot of money but he’s not quite at the races.

‘I think Jesus probably starts against Sunderland if he’s fit. He’s a confidence player and he’s scored a few goals recently and looks sharp and hungry.

‘Gyokeres is okay at a lot of things but I don’t think he’s better than the others.’

Moreno described Gyokeres’ heat map at the Emirates Stadium as ’embarrassing’ after the Sweden international had just ten touches of the ball and completed only one pass.

‘That heat map is embarrassing,’ the three-time MLS Cup winner said. ‘He played for 69 minutes and had 10 touches and only one completed pass.

‘I understand Arsenal do not play through their centre forward but the heat map tells you his movement isn’t all that sharp or abundant. That’s embarrassing, ten touches.

‘Maybe he’s getting frustrated and is stop making runs but that’s the worse thing a centre forward can do. There isn’t a whole lot of movement with Gyokeres, it’s an embarrassing heat map.’

Arsenal will face Manchester City or holders Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final on March 22.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City boast a two-goal advantage ahead of the second leg of their semi-final tie against Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium.

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