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If Viktor Gyökeres goes on to become the striker that every Arsenal followers have been hoping for, then maybe they will recall this night as the point his luck turned around. As the old striker’s mantra goes, it makes no difference how they find the net.

After a run of nine matches for Arsenal and Sweden without a goal and pressure mounting on the man signed for £64m in the close season, a tremendous feeling of ease engulfed the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres tapped in from point-blank via a deflection off David Hancko during a pulsating second half when Mikel Arteta’s side proved yet again that they mean business this season.

Remarkable Shift in Form

Less than three minutes later and to the delight of the home faithful, his Bane-inspired gesture modeled after the character Bane in Batman, whose signature quote is “nobody cared until I put on the mask,” was repeated once more after bundling over from Gabriel Magalhães’s header following a Declan Rice corner to seal the victory against Atlético Madrid. Down on the touchline, Arteta punched the air and gestured animatedly in the direction of his star striker, of whom he has spent the last fortnight insisting the peak performance awaited.

“That’s the game, and we can’t expect a player to switch environments and have him replicate his form immediately,” the Arsenal manager stated in a discussion with the Spanish newspaper Marca prior to the match. “Things are very different. Every footballer globally need one thing: their psychological state to be at its optimum. I told Viktor in our initial discussion that the center forward I sought for Arsenal was someone who could stay resilient when they went six or eight games without scoring. Failing that, you’re not good enough at this level. That’s why I have a lot of faith in him.”

Formative Hurdles

When he was just 14 playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are situated in Stockholm’s outskirts, that Gyökeres first recognized he would have to build resilience to succeed in his chosen profession. Rebuked after a subpar outing by a coach who said he was not mentally equipped to excel in elite soccer, he ultimately switched from a wide player into a striker after joining Brommapojkarna two years later. “Those words lingered and I think about it often,” he said recently.

Difficult Phase

Goal-shy since the win over Nottingham Forest at home back on 13 September, this has been one of the most testing periods of his professional life. Gyökeres was sharply rebuked after Sweden were defeated by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the last two weeks, with one newspaper characterizing his outing against the latter as “absent.”

He achieved an astounding 54 goals in 52 appearances throughout the season for Sporting last season, so the issue is evidently not his scoring ability. As Arteta has frequently pointed out, his overall contribution has added a new layer in the final third, even if the openings have not fallen his way.

Game Analysis

This was certainly in evidence during the first half 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 charged around like a force of nature during the opening minutes. An Eberechi Eze shot that glanced on to the bar inside the first few moments 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 aura of a man who could provoke conflict anywhere but is vastly experienced at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is playing in only his second Champions League campaign after scoring a hat-trick for Sporting against Manchester City last season that must have gone a long way to persuading Arteta to make the move.

Relentless Effort

Yet having faced scrutiny that he was overweight after missing most of pre-season in Portugal, Arsenal’s noticeably leaner striker pursued each opportunity as if his future was at stake. Giménez was drawn into conceding a booking when Gyökeres made contact on the edge of the Atlético area having merely stood his ground. Gabriel Martinelli saw his goal ruled out for offside after tapping in Bukayo Saka’s cross and it did not happen until later that the Swede had his initial opportunity.

A exquisite touch from Martinelli set Gyökeres up perfectly, only for Jan Oblak to quickly smother an unconvincing toe-poke towards goal. Then it must have appeared that the breakthrough would elude him. But the floodgates opened when Gabriel nodded in Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the man in the mask announced his presence. “Ideally this is the beginning of a great run,” said a delighted Arteta.