Viktor Gyokeres admits Arsenal Premier League nerves and calls on team-mates to respond

Viktor Gyokeres has been talking solely to soccer.london and has shared his ideas on what it takes to win a Premier League title with Arsenal this season

Viktor Gyokeres strode into the room exuding self-assurance. This was not a striker who appeared rattled as Arsenal battle to declare each the Premier League and Champions League.

The experience of the previous Sporting CP star, who secured consecutive titles in Portugal, will show important to the Gunners as they strategy the enterprise finish of the 2025/26 marketing campaign. Gyokeres has led Arsenal’s pursuit of their ultimate prize for most of the season and has now known as on his colleagues to preserve focus and relish the title run-in regardless of the burden of aspiration and stress upon them.

Speaking to Football London, Gyökeres outlined what’s required mentally to claim a league triumph. “You have to be so focused every game and take every game as seriously as you can, no matter who you play. All the points that you get count in the end,” the 27-year-old stated.

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“You have to think like that, but also not to get too frustrated if it doesn’t go your way because it’s always a long season and there’s still a lot to play for.

“Even now, after we’re in April, there’s a variety of video games nonetheless to play, we simply have to focus on doing our job and to take pleasure in it. Not assume an excessive amount of about what can occur or how the top result’s going to be. I feel a very powerful factor is to play soccer and to take pleasure in it on the pitch.”

There was a considerable push throughout the summer season to bolster Arsenal’s squad depth. Mikel Arteta sought at least two reliable options for every position, with Gyökeres linking up with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus as the central striking choices. Yet alongside this quality in numbers came a focus on winning pedigree. Martin Zubimendi, a Copa del Rey champion with Real Sociedad, Eberechi Eze, an FA Cup victor with Crystal Palace, and Piero Hincapie, an unbeaten Bundesliga title winner, all arrived.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, a a number of cup-winning goalkeeper, and Noni Madueke, a UEFA Conference League champion and member of the Chelsea squad that subsequently claimed the Club World Cup, also put pen to paper. These seasoned winners will surely assist those squad members who have fallen short in recent campaigns, though while Gyökeres acknowledges that varied mindsets and viewpoints matter, everyone must share the same goal – claiming silverware.

“Every participant has completely different experiences by means of their careers and completely different emotions about the identical conditions,” he said. “I feel it is at all times necessary to include a special mindset typically and to take a look at it another way.

“But with the same intentions as everyone else in the club, and together with everyone. We have a lot of players in the team who have won trophies, and that’s what we want to do again this season.”

As a collective, Arsenal have attracted appreciable criticism, with their exits from the League Cup and FA Cup solely intensifying the highlight. Claims of tension spreading all through the squad, leading to nervy performances, have dominated mainstream debate surrounding the Gunners.

Some gamers may brush this off when questioned, even when the jitters are genuinely there, fearing it exposes vulnerability. Not Gyökeres.

For the Swede, nerves solely develop into problematic in the event you allow them to spiral into one thing damaging. Butterflies make you human, and moderately than signalling cowardice, they really reveal how deeply somebody values one thing – simply as this Arsenal squad desperately craves Premier League glory.

“I think if you feel nerves, I think it means that it matters for you,” he acknowledged. “I think it’s not bad if you take it in the right way and you put that energy in the right direction.

“So to have nerves, I feel it is not a foul factor. It’s simply unhealthy in the event you convert it into one thing detrimental, and it relies upon on the way you deal with these feelings.”

It’s not solely about players, though. Gabriel Heinze joined the coaching setup during the summer just prior to the £63.5million forward’s arrival, and has brought his own winning mentality to the table as well.

A Premier League, Ligue 1 and La Liga champion as a player, the Argentine understands precisely what’s required to claim silverware. With the Gunners boasting the finest attacking and defensive records this term in England’s top division, his impact is evident and despite operating at the opposite end of the pitch to Heinze’s primary area, Gyökeres outlined his advantages.

“I feel he brings a variety of good power into the group,” Gyökeres said. “He has drive in him, and I feel that spreads all through the group. Lots of expertise as a participant as properly. He brings lots.”

Arteta has nurtured countless players during his tenure as Arsenal’s boss, striving to extract their full potential and aid their development. Stars like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Jurrien Timber have been cultivated from their youth and now rank amongst the globe’s finest in their respective roles.

Even those who joined later in their careers, including Havertz, David Raya, Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard, have made significant progress. Gyökeres fits into the age category of the latter group, and while he remains fresh-faced and has enjoyed limited exposure to his new manager, he acknowledges being exposed to numerous fresh concepts, with a clear, comprehensive and personalised development strategy in place daily for squad members. “It’s been very attention-grabbing,” he said. “Lots of new issues, you study lots every single day right here.

“So, in that sense, it’s great. He tries to improve us every day, individually and as a team. I just try to be the best I can in training and in the games. Go forward as a player and as a team.”

Gyökeres has discovered the web 17 occasions throughout all competitions this season, six forward of the membership’s subsequent highest goalscorer. Despite enduring some tough spells, Arteta revealed in October – when the striker had managed simply three objectives – what he demanded from the participant.

“I told him, before the first meeting, the [number] nine that I want is a nine that when he doesn’t score for six or eight games, he can handle that,” Arteta stated. “If not, we have to go somewhere else. Because the pressure, the expectation is going to be there so if you put on the number nine shirt for Arsenal, you have to be able to say, ‘six games, don’t score, am I a different player? And start to act in a different way.

“I need way more of the identical of what he is doing and yeah, when we’ve got to alternatives [put them away]. I’m certain he’s going to do it.”

Gyökeres remains an unflappable character, brimming with self-belief. When questioned about Arteta’s remarks, it was evident that he has faith in his contribution to the side and that securing victory takes precedence, regardless of how satisfying it feels to find the back of the net. “It’s at all times the very best feeling if we win video games and I rating as many objectives as I can within the sport, that is the very best feeling as a striker, it doesn’t matter what anybody says,” the Sweden international said. “I feel everybody who performs as a 9 needs that, however then that is not the fact.

“You’re going to have games where you don’t score, maybe you didn’t get the chances, or you didn’t take them. Just stay focused and be ready because it’s going to come. And when it comes, you have to be ready.”