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Should Viktor Gyökeres transforms into the forward that all Arsenal followers have been praying for, then perhaps they will look back on this night as the point his destiny shifted. As the old striker’s mantra goes, it isn’t important how they go in.

After a run of nine matches for his team and national side without a goal and scrutiny increasing on the man signed for £64m in the summer, a huge wave of relief engulfed the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres guided in from near distance via a deflection off David Hancko during a electrifying second half when Mikel Arteta’s side showed again that they mean business this season.

Dramatic Turnaround in Form

Shortly after and to the excitement of the local supporters, his face-covering routine inspired by the character Bane in Batman, whose famous line is “attention came only with the disguise,” was given another airing after forcing home from Gabriel Magalhães’s header following a Declan Rice corner to seal the victory against Atlético Madrid. On the sidelines, Arteta raised his fists and motioned emphatically in the direction of his recent signing, of whom he has spent the past two weeks insisting the best was yet to come.

“Such is soccer, and we can’t expect a player to change contexts and have him perform identically right away,” the Arsenal manager said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca before this game. “Things are very different. Every footballer globally need one thing: their psychological state to be at its best. I told Viktor in our introductory chat that the striker I desired at Arsenal was someone who could hold up mentally when they went six or eight games without scoring. Failing that, you’re not good enough at this standard. That’s why I have a great belief in him.”

Formative Hurdles

It was as a 14-year-old playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are located in Stockholm’s southside districts, that Gyökeres first understood he would have to build resilience to make it in his chosen profession. Criticised after a poor performance by a coach who said he lacked the mindset to make it in top-level football, he ended up being converted from a winger into a striker after signing for Brommapojkarna two years later. “Those words lingered and I recall it now,” he said not long ago.

Testing Period

Having failed to score since the victory against Nottingham Forest at home back on 13 September, this has been one of the most testing periods of his career. Gyökeres was heavily criticised after Sweden were beaten by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the previous 14 days, with one newspaper characterizing his outing against the latter as “invisible.”

He achieved an incredible 54 goals in 52 appearances throughout the season for Sporting last season, so the difficulty is clearly not his scoring ability. As Arteta has frequently pointed out, his all‑round play has given Arsenal an extra dimension in offense, even if the openings have not come to him.

Game Analysis

This was clearly apparent during the initial 45 minutes of this high‑quality encounter between two teams that had originally looked closely contested. There was a feeling that Gyökeres was pressing too much to stand out as he bustled about like a disruptive presence during the opening minutes. An Eberechi Eze shot that bounced on to the bar inside the initial stages was set up by some clever dribbling on the edge of the Atlético area that skillfully evaded from his opponent, José María Giménez.

The Uruguayan has the air of a man who could start a fight in an empty bar but is deeply knowledgeable at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is competing in merely his second Champions League campaign after netting three goals for Sporting against Manchester City last season that probably significantly contributed to convincing Arteta to take the plunge.

Unyielding Drive

Yet having faced scrutiny that he was overweight after missing most of pre-season in Portugal, Arsenal’s much more svelte-looking striker chased down every ball as if his career hung in the balance. Giménez was tricked into conceding a booking when Gyökeres collided with him on the edge of the Atlético area having only been stationary. Gabriel Martinelli saw his effort disallowed for offside after converting Bukayo Saka’s cross and it wasn’t until after the break that the Swede had his initial opportunity.

A brilliant pass from Martinelli created an ideal chance, only for Jan Oblak to swiftly block an weak effort towards goal. Then it must have seemed as if the first score would elude him. But the floodgates opened when Gabriel scored with a header Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the forward with the disguise left his imprint. “With any luck this is the beginning of a great run,” said a delighted Arteta.