Thierry Henry explains why Viktor Gyokeres and Arsenal are the ‘perfect match’

The Swedish striker has already shown promising signs with a goal in pre-season against Athletic Bilbao and Gunners legend Henry believes he will thrive under Mikel Arteta this term

Thierry Henry believes Arsenal and Viktor Gyokeres are a “perfect match” due to the Swedish striker’s desire to operate inside the penalty area.

Gyokeres signed for the Gunners from Sporting CP for £64m to reenergise Mikel Arteta’s attack in what is set up as a “now or never” type season.

And the 27-year-old managed to get off the mark in pre-season with a powerful header in the 3-0 win over Athletic Club, highlighting a key quality to impress Arsenal legend Henry.

“That instinct and understanding to anticipate the cross [against Athletic], a great header with soft touch to guide it to the other side of the goal – he is a proper No. 9,” Henry said in his Betway Insider blog. “He is not a Firmino type of 9 that’s going to drop into midfield. He wants to be in the box, in between the posts, and he said it himself – please put the ball in the box and serve me.

“You have a guy that's a killer in the box – numbers don't lie – and you have a team that create a lot of chances, so it should be the perfect match, but you have to also understand that sometimes it doesn’t click straight away.

“What you want is people to be patient with him, and what is annoying right now is that people are not that patient anymore. They want the guy to perform straight away, score goals straight away and make us win straight away, which doesn’t happen often.

“I’m an Arsenal fan, I obviously hope he’s going to do well, bang goals for us, and guide us to a title, but he’s not going to do that alone. We have seen that goals don’t always assure you a title. We’ve seen guys with mad numbers, but they didn’t win anything.

Viktor Gyokeres is the star signing for Arsenal this summer (Getty)

“The team around them has to be good. From what I’ve seen from him and how he finishes, hopefully it’s going to be a great match and we can finally go back to lift that trophy. But as I’ve said, a lot of teams want to lift that.”

Gyokeres will make his full debut on Sunday against Manchester United, with the Gunners travelling to Old Trafford to kick-start their title challenge after three successive runner-up finishes in the Premier League.