Attention Fantasy Premier League managers, Arsenal may well have a new penalty taker this season.
Bukayo Saka has been the Gunners’ go-to man from the spot since he assumed the responsibility just over three years ago.
Excluding penalty shootouts, Saka has missed just two of the 14 penalties he has taken in club football, including last season’s failed Panenka effort in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.
Fortunately, on that occasion, the England international’s overconfidence did not prove to be decisive as Mikel Arteta’s side progressed serenely enough to the semi finals of the Champions League.
Despite that excellent record, Arteta has hinted new signing Viktor Gyokeres will be the man to take Arsenal’s penalties from now on.
During an interview with ESPN Brazil, the Arsenal manager, who was pretty reliable from 12 yards himself during his playing days, was asked who his squad’s best taker was.
‘Gyokeres,’ he replied without a moment’s hesitation.
Whether the Swede, who converted an astonishing 19 penalties last season, takes over from Saka remains to be seen but he certainly has the pedigree, as well as the backing of his new boss.
The summer arrival from Sporting Lisbon endured a difficult Premier League debut against Manchester United last weekend.
Gyokeres laboured up front on his own, failed to register a shot on goal and touched the ball on only four occasions inside United’s 18-yard box.
‘To be fair to him he didn’t have much support at times,’ Wayne Rooney said on his BBC podcast when asked about Gyokeres’ first appearance in a competitive match for Arsenal.
‘He was a bit isolated, he did show his strength, there was one time he ran into the channel and pushed [Matthijs] De Ligt off the ball.
‘You don’t become a bad player after one game. I actually played against him a couple of years ago when he was at Coventry and back then you could tell he was a good player.
‘The one thing I would say is this league is completely different to where he’s been and there’s a lot more pressure.
‘Arsenal have been in need of a striker and he’s the one they’ve put the trust in and spent the money on so there is a lot of pressure on him.
‘Now, the question I would have is can he handle that pressure? We’ve seen at Man United some players just can’t do it, just can’t handle the pressure of playing for a big club.
‘I guess we’re going to find out over the next few months.’
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