‘They don’t trust him’ – Paul Merson says Arsenal players ‘never pass’ to team-mate

Paul Merson says Arsenal players ‘never pass’ to Viktor Gyokeres and the striker is still yet to win the ‘trust’ of his new team-mates, six months after joining from Sporting.

Arsenal made signing an out-and-out centre-forward their number one priority last summer and Gyokeres was identified as the club’s top target to come in and help fire Mikel Arteta’s side to the title.

But the 27-year-old attacker has blown hot and cold across his first half-a-season with the Gunners, struggling to live up to the expectations that inevitably come with a transfer fee of £64million.

While Gyokeres is Arsenal’s top scorer in the Premier League this term, with a total of six goals to his name, only four of these efforts have come from open play.

There have been incessant calls for Gyokeres to be taken out the firing line in recent weeks, with both Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz having returned from long-term injuries over the winter.

The Sweden international has responded well to the added pressure, though, netting four times in his last seven appearances in all competitions for Arsenal.

And in their last Premier League outing, Havertz played in behind Gyokeres to great success as the club ran out emphatic 4-0 victors over Leeds at Elland Road.

But Merson is yet to be convinced despite Gyokeres’ recent form in front of goal – and he believes those same doubts may be shared by some of the forward’s own team-mates.

‘I watch Gyokeres. Next time you watch him… Arsenal don’t trust him, the players, they never pass to him,’ the ex-Arsenal, Aston Villa and England midfielder said on The Overlap.

‘They never pass to him! You watch him, next time he comes short they go, “No!”‘

Merson claims to have spotted a stark difference when Jesus is selected over Gyokeres, with Arteta’s players willing to give the Brazilian the ball ‘all the time’.

‘He [Gyokeres] accepts it [being ignored]. If you watch it you’d be surprised,’ Merson added.

‘Honestly, he comes like that [for the ball] and they go [no].’

And then when Gabriel Jesus comes on they just keep on giving it to him all the time. It’s different.’

Gyokeres was largely ineffective during his 69 minutes on the pitch as Arsenal came through their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Chelsea to seal a place in this year’s final.

Havertz was sent on in place of Gyokeres with 20 minutes remaining and it was the German’s stoppage-time strike that put the game to bed in front of an raucous Emirates crowd.

But facing the media ahead of Arsenal’s semi-final win, Arteta insisted he had been encouraged by Gyokeres’ recent output and level of consistency.

‘Yes, in his all-round play and performances, I would say,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters.

‘He has been much more consistent in actions and consecutive actions especially.

‘His defending input has been terrific from the beginning. But attacking-wise, understanding his movement, the timings of his runs, the presence and movement of the ball has been much better.

‘He has been more prolific certainly, in front of goal to help us to win more games.’

Arteta was keen to stress that he was not overly bothered by the fact that the majority of Gyokeres’ goals had come from close range.

‘I mean, he has the ability to do that, but goals are goals,’ the Spaniard added.

‘I know that we prefer the beautiful ones on YouTube, but they are all very important and the ones we scored recently are very much the same.’

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