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Should Viktor Gyökeres goes on to become the attacker that all Arsenal supporters have been hoping for, then maybe they will look back on this night as the juncture his luck changed. In keeping with the timeless attacker’s creed, it doesn’t matter how they go in.

On the back of nine matches for club and country without a goal and expectations rising on the man signed for £64m in the close season, a huge wave of relief washed over the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres guided in from point-blank via a ricochet off David Hancko during a pulsating second half when Mikel Arteta’s side demonstrated once more that they mean business this season.

Dramatic Turnaround in Luck

Shortly after and to the excitement of the stadium crowd, his face-covering routine inspired by the character Bane in Batman, whose famous line is “attention came only with the disguise,” was repeated once more after kneeing in from Gabriel Magalhães’s header following a Declan Rice corner to seal the victory against Atlético Madrid. From the technical area, Arteta raised his fists and signaled enthusiastically in the direction of his new centre forward, of whom he has spent the past two weeks insisting the best was yet to come.

“Such is soccer, and we can’t expect a player to change contexts and have him perform identically right away,” the Arsenal manager said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca ahead of the fixture. “Things are very different. Every footballer globally need one thing: their mental condition to be at its best. I informed Viktor in our initial discussion that the striker I wanted for Arsenal was someone who could remain strong psychologically when they faced a goal drought without scoring. If not, you’re not good enough at this standard. That’s why I have a strong confidence in him.”

Formative Hurdles

When he was just 14 playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are located in Stockholm’s southside districts, that Gyökeres first understood he would have to build resilience to succeed in his chosen profession. Admonished after a disappointing display by a coach who said he didn’t have the mentality to excel in top-level football, he ultimately switched from a flank attacker into a striker after moving to Brommapojkarna two years later. “Those words lingered and I think about it often,” he said recently.

Challenging Spell

Without a goal since the victory against Nottingham Forest in London back on 13 September, this has been one of the toughest stretches of his time in football. Gyökeres was sharply rebuked after Sweden were beaten by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the previous 14 days, with one newspaper labeling his display against the latter as “invisible.”

He achieved an incredible 54 goals in 52 appearances in all tournaments for Sporting last season, so the difficulty is evidently not his goal conversion. As the manager has often noted, his overall contribution has provided additional depth in attack, even if the openings have not fallen his way.

Game Analysis

This was plainly visible during the initial 45 minutes of this high‑quality encounter between two teams that had originally looked evenly matched. There was a feeling that Gyökeres was overexerting himself to impress as he bustled about like a force of nature during the beginning phase. An Eberechi Eze shot that bounced on to the bar inside the first few moments was created by some clever dribbling on the edge of the Atlético area that skillfully evaded from his defender, José María Giménez.

Giménez has the air of a man who could start a fight in an empty bar but is deeply knowledgeable at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is participating in just his second Champions League campaign after netting three goals for Sporting against Manchester City last season that must have gone a long way to influencing Arteta to make the move.

Constant Hustle

Yet having drawn comments that he was overweight after being absent for preparations in Portugal, Arsenal’s noticeably leaner striker chased down every ball as if his life depended on it. Giménez was drawn into conceding a yellow card when Gyökeres ran into him on the edge of the Atlético area having only been stationary. Gabriel Martinelli saw his effort disallowed for offside after converting Bukayo Saka’s cross and it did not happen until later that the Swede had his initial opportunity.

A sumptuous flick from Martinelli provided a golden opportunity, only for Jan Oblak to swiftly block an unconvincing toe-poke towards goal. Then it must have felt like the opening goal would not arrive. But the dam burst when Gabriel nodded in Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the masked striker left his imprint. “With any luck this is the beginning of a great run,” said a delighted Arteta.