Martin Keown believes a new goalscorer should be at the forefront of Arsenal's priorities for the January transfer window and gave a brutal response to the Gunners' links with Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres.

The Gunners find themselves in a peculiar situation. They're still in contention for the Premier League title and sit six points behind leaders Liverpool but have been far from convincing in front of goal.

For the past four league matches, Mikel Arteta has not witnessed a single goal from open play, with set-pieces coming to the rescue.

READ MORE: Four words Mikel Arteta said that may just have hinted at Marcus Rashford to Arsenal transfer

READ MORE: I haven't been at Arsenal long - but I've 'asked agents' to find me a new team

Though Arsenal have not lost any of those matches, dropped points or a failure to accumulate the best goal difference possible will place the team at a significant disadvantage to Liverpool and Chelsea ahead of them.

"The players who are there at the moment need to start scoring goals fast don’t they otherwise Mikel will put his hands in his pocket and buy a forward," Keown said via The Oxford Mail.

One forward in particular linked with alleviating the club's problem has been Gyokeres of Sporting CP. Since transferring to the Portuguese League from Coventry City almost 18 months ago, he has netted 69 goals in 74 appearances.

However Arsenal's 1995/96 player of the season and three-time Premier League winner had a brutal assessment when asked if the Sweden international is the one to go for.

"Not quick enough," he replied, adding: "And he wouldn’t have been quick enough in my day."

According to UEFA, Gyokeres has recorded a top speed at 34.55km/h in the Champions League this season. This would place him joint-55th of all players in the competition with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and PSV Eindhoven's Johan Bakayoko.

That is actually faster than all of Arsenal's existing attacking options, with Gabriel Martinelli closest at 34.4km/h.