Arsenal begins yet another season with hopes of ending its Premier League title drought on Sunday when it visits a Manchester United side looking to rebound from its worst season in recent memory.
The Gunners have finished as EPL runners-up in three consecutive campaigns now, most recently 10 points behind Liverpool in the 2024-25 campaign that concluded in May but was clinched by late April.
But after struggling at times in front of goal last season — finishing without a single attacker reaching double digits in the league — Arsenal are hopeful that their reported $74 million spent on a transfer fee to acquire Swedish striker Viktor Gyorkeres from Portugal’s Sporting Club will prove worth the investment.
And Gunners manager Mikel Arteta knows how important it will be to help the 27-year-old, who had a career-best 39 league goals last season, acclimate to the heightened demands of the Premier League after winning consecutive Primeira Liga titles.
“We want to do everything,” Arteta said. “First of all, understanding the player and exposing the player to the conditions that he can fulfill his incredible potential. Then that’s going to be the key, and the good thing is that many players, many strikers, they have come from different leagues, they have come to the Premier League and been successful. And it’s for us, creating the right context for Viktor to do what he does best, which is to score goals.”
Gyorkes will see one familiar face in the form of opposing manager Ruben Amorim, who left Sporting to take the Man U job last November.
If anything, the league form got worse following Amorim’s arrival, with the Red Devils finishing 15th in their worst top-flight showing since finishing 21st and being relegated in 1973-74.
But the Portuguese manager did take Man U to the Europa League final, where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur, and has seen several reinforcements signed during the summer. Among them: Former Wolverhampton Wanderers attacker Matheus Cunha and former Brentford striker Bryan Mbuemo.
With a full preseason, squad reinforcements and no European commitments to manage, Amorim is hopeful his side will be significantly improved. But he admits only results will prove it.
“It’s hard to know, because we cannot change everything in four weeks,” Amorim said. “But we are better. I know we are training better and harder. So I know that we are more prepared to cope with the demands of the game. We have new players, that we need to understand in the real game what they are capable of doing in the moment.”
–Field Level Media
