Gunners looking forward to greater firepower in 2026

While Viktor Gyokeres has not been the panacea Arsenal hoped for since his transfer, Mikel Arteta has depth to call upon up front and it could be decisive writes Richard Jolly

- Richard Jolly

A striker Mikel Arteta had long coveted moved in the summer and scored in north London on Saturday in stylish fashion. Not for Arsenal, admittedly, and not on a day when Arsenal needed to rue the one who got away as his price got too big: Alexander Isak was injured a fraction of a second after unleashing the shot that nestled in the Tottenham net. The £125m man has just two league goals and faces another spell on the sidelines.

About 90 minutes later, Arteta’s summer striking signing struck. Viktor Gyokeres, at £54m, came at less than half Isak’s fee and yet still looks overpriced. He has six Premier League goals, three times as many as Isak, but two were spot kicks and each may prove to be against a bottom-half finisher. Against Everton, he powered in his penalty but otherwise laboured and lumbered; there was no lack of effort but a distinct lack of class. The transfer window online obsession with the Swede feels ever more misplaced.

But Arsenal may yet win the title: not in spite of him, nor because of him, but with him at times. And the task for Arteta, after heeding the fanbase’s demands to sign a striker, is to select the right ones. In 2026, he will have a choice of four: the strikers he signed in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Though, admittedly, at least one and arguably two did not arrive as a centre-forward. And there are times when they can seem the most compelling choices.