Mikel Arteta breaks silence on Viktor Gyokeres amid Arsenal transfer links

Mikel Arteta swerved any direct reference of Viktor Gyokeres when asked about the Arsenal-linked Sporting CP striker during his press conference before the two teams meet.

The Gunners are back in Champions League action on Tuesday, playing Portuguese opposition at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. While their previous manager Ruben Amorim has moved to Man United since, they will do well to remember that only four weeks ago Man City fell 4-1 at this ground.

An interesting sub-plot to the fixture is that Arsenal have been increasingly rumoured to be interested in Sporting's serial goalscorer Gyokeres.

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Since he transferred to the club from Coventry City for £17m in 2023, the Sweden international has netted 67 goals in 69 appearances, including 24 strikes in this season so far alone.

Therefore Gyokeres is very much the danger man Arsenal will need to stop on Tuesday night, and Arteta was posed the question what he thinks about the striker and how to silence him.

"I would like to talk about the team, about the coaches and how phenomenal they have been," the Spaniard responded.

"The run they are in is incredible. That tells you that it is not only the quality, the setup, the ambition, it is something about the team energy that they have.

"That is a great challenge that we have tomorrow, to come here and make a statement and show we are capable against this kind of opponent. Be ourselves and win the game."

Poked for full comment on Gyokeres alone, the manager was asked if Sporting's No.9 is 'exactly what a modern-day centre forward looks like'.

Arteta replied: "I understand the question but they have a lot of individual qualities. That’s why they can win games in various ways. And yes in the specific position they have great players."

Arriving into the fifth of eight Champions League fixtures in this initial league phase, they are two points away from automatic qualification for the knockout stages.