'Heavy' Viktor Gyokeres told what he must do at Arsenal – 'He will learn'

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Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres has been told to improve his fitness levels to maximise his impact at the Emirates Stadium this season. The Sweden international joined the Gunners in a £63.7million summer transfer from Sporting CP.

Gyokeres is currently sidelined with a muscle problem that has ruled him out of Arsenal's previous two fixtures. The injury also meant the striker was unavailable for Sweden duty during this month's international break. New national team boss Graham Potter was forced to leave out Gyokeres as the forward works towards returning to Mikel Arteta's squad.

Since his summer arrival in north London, Gyokeres has netted six times, with four of those strikes coming in the Premier League .

Former Arsenal and Sweden midfielder Stefan Schwarz has praised Gyokeres but believes enhanced fitness could elevate the 27-year-old's performances further.

“He's [Gyokeres] in a strong team. Arsenal has been fighting for the big titles, so maybe he can help the team to take this big step," Schwarz told Hajper . "But, of course, everyone is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

“So everyone is important, but of course, he has a big presence. He's a strong, physical guy, and a good finisher with both feet.

“However, he needs to get his fitness up. I think he's in the right team with Mikel Arteta and the players around him. It's a fantastic squad.

“The quality shown by the players on the bench and the options that Arsenal have means that Gyokeres won't play all the games because I think they have a lot of good options to make tactical decisions from time to time based on the opponent or the result during the games.

“Sometimes the dog who barks loudest is not always the strongest," Schwarz continued. "I think it's just the players in the Premier League. They are more powerful players, faster players.

“The strikers will always be counted on for the goals that they are scoring."

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Ahead of Arsenal's showdown with Tottenham on Sunday, Schwarz commented on the striker's current condition: "Hopefully, he'll start to create and score goals, have a good run, get that real boost, and get a bit lighter because he's a heavy player. I think that would help.

“He didn't have a proper pre-season, and you need to play the games. You have those six weeks to interact with your colleagues, to understand the movement. When the midfielder makes the pass, you just have to look in their eyes, you know where they'll pass it.

“That's a relationship that takes a bit of time, and football is about fine margins. Look at Dennis Bergkamp, he was the best at that.

“He will learn and score a lot of goals, and that will benefit Arsenal.”

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