Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal problem pinpointed after Man City struggles as Kai Havertz "pining" claim made

Arsenal were crying out for Kai Havertz in their 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester City on Sunday, and Viktor Gyokeres has been guilty of being "flat-footed" in big games, Gunners expert Charles Watts has claimed.

Mikel Arteta's new number nine was recently bestowed with the Gerd Muller Trophy at the 2025 Ballon d'Or awards, a day after he registered his third goalless game in five Premier League matches during the stalemate with Pep Guardiola's team at the Emirates.

Gyokeres registered fewer touches in the Man City box than left-back Riccardo Calafiori, and the ex-Sporting Lisbon marksman was also largely anonymous in games against Liverpool and Manchester United, although he has made the net bulge against Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

Speaking exclusively to Sports Mole, Watts insisted that while Arsenal must do more for Gyokeres, the Sweden striker must also be better at anticipating and sniffing out chances when they come.

“Jamie Carragher is right about the creativity; that is clearly a bit of an issue for Arsenal and has been for a fair while," Watts said. "But I also think that Gyokeres needs to come a little bit more alive in and around the penalty area when someone's got the ball out wide.

“He’s a little bit flat-footed at times, and he's not anticipating, which is a bit of a surprise given his goalscoring record. A fair few times crosses come in, and he's a little bit on his heels rather than anticipating moving to the near post.

“Arsenal definitely need to create more chances for him, but in and around the penalty area, his movement needs to improve. We know he's great on the transition when Arsenal suddenly spring forward and play him into space down the channels. We've seen that already.

Watts "pining" for Havertz in Arsenal's draw with Man City

“But I'm still perfectly happy with what we've seen from Viktor Gyokeres so far. Those big games he's been involved in, the lack of creativity has been very, very apparent."

Gyokeres is a guaranteed starter up front with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus nursing knee injuries, but Watts would have loved to have seen the Germany international involved against City, adding: "I was missing Kai Havertz in that game. It would have been perfect for him.

“Arsenal would be better in those big games with Kai Havertz. Certainly the ones early on in the season, I always felt if he was fit, those would be Kai Havertz games and Gyokeres would be eased in a bit more slowly. I was pining for Kai Havertz on Sunday.”

Gyokeres's cause on Sunday was arguably not helped by Arteta starting a midfield trio lacking any creative genius, as Mikel Merino was given the nod alongside Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi in Martin Odegaard's absence.

Arteta went with the same triumvirate against Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao, which did not pay dividends on either occasion, and Merino was ultimately taken off at half time for the more creative-minded Eberechi Eze.

The latter ended up producing the elusive spark for Arsenal in added time, sending a delightful long ball over City's high line for Gabriel Martinelli to run onto, before the Brazilian lobbed Gianluigi Donnarumma for the game's equalising goal.

While Watts agrees that Arteta made the wrong choices in midfield, he could understand the Spaniard's point of view and expressed more surprise at Leandro Trossard occupying the left flank.

Arsenal 1-1 Man City: Arteta "got it wrong" with Merino call

“He got it wrong," he added. "It's certainly not the starting XI that I wanted to see. I'd have played a [Ethan] Nwaneri or an Eze, in that role. But I thought he was going to play that midfield three, so I wasn't surprised. I didn't think it was a terrible call because I thought Man City were going to play the way Manchester City normally play. A free-flowing game end-to-end.

“It was going to need that midfield to try to dominate physically. But because Man City went into their shell, it just made that midfield three completely redundant. And Mikel knew that, that's why he made the changes he did at half time. He never makes those changes.

I don't think it's a terrible midfield three, but it's just a bit clunky. There's not really any spark or real creativity. It's going to be really interesting what he does at Newcastle. Was this the end of that three? Or is he going to go again at Newcastle in a really physical game?

“I was more surprised that Trossard played on the left-hand side. I was not expecting that. I thought it'd be Eze, Martinelli. It never even came into my head that it might be Trossard, that was really out of the blue. And I don't think that worked at all.

“He didn't have the pace to get past [Abdukodir] Khusanov, who was stronger than him as well. And unless something was going to fall to Trossard in the box, it was pretty clear within a few minutes he wasn't going to have any impact.”

Arteta may have anticipated facing a gung-ho, aggressive Man City side at the Emirates, but the Sky Blues were only too happy to concede possession to the Gunners, especially after Erling Haaland's breakaway goal in the ninth minute.

Did Arsenal gain one point or drop two against Man City?

The Citizens employed a 5-4-1 shape towards the end of the game, with Savinho acting as the focal point of the attack while Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders represented the only other partially offensive-minded players on the field for the visitors.

Guardiola's bold move very nearly paid dividends until Martinelli's 93rd-minute heroics, which triggered an explosion of Emirates euphoria, but the Gunners are already five points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table.

As a result, Watts has admitted that he left the ground with an air of frustration, as Guardiola's men were "there for the taking", adding: It's tough to really sum it up. In terms of the game itself, it's obviously a point gained because it looked like they weren't going to be getting anything. But they are certainly good enough to have won that game.

“I went into that game expecting an Arsenal win, so from that point of view, it's two points dropped. But it was just a strange game. I don't think anyone was expecting Manchester City to do what they did. I don't think Mikel Arteta was. It’s so unheard of how Manchester City approached that game.

“It was just really, really difficult for Arsenal to find a way back and get themselves level. If they had done that earlier, I'm sure they would have won the game. I did leave the stadium disappointed, even after celebrating a last-minute equaliser. That probably tells me that I'm leaning more towards two points dropped. City were there for the taking.”

Arsenal now switch their attention to Wednesday's EFL Cup third-round clash with Port Vale, where Arteta will be missing Noni Madueke after the extent of the winger's knee injury was revealed.

> Click here to listen to the full discussion on Gyokeres, Man City and Arsenal's midfield three