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Should Viktor Gyökeres develops into the striker that each Arsenal fans have been hoping for, then maybe they will reflect on this night as the point his fortune shifted. As the old striker’s mantra goes, it doesn’t matter how they go in.

Following a streak of nine matches for Arsenal and Sweden without a goal and expectations rising on the man signed for £64m in the close season, a huge wave of relief engulfed the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres scuffed home from near distance via a glance off David Hancko during a thrilling second half when Mikel Arteta’s side demonstrated once more that they mean business this season.

Dramatic Turnaround in Luck

Less than three minutes later and to the joy of the home faithful, his face-covering routine borrowed from the character Bane in Batman, whose signature quote is “nobody cared until I put on the mask,” was repeated once more after forcing home from Gabriel Magalhães’s header following a Declan Rice corner to complete the rout against Atlético Madrid. On the sidelines, Arteta raised his fists and motioned emphatically in the direction of his recent signing, of whom he has spent the past two weeks insisting the peak performance awaited.

“This is football, and we shouldn’t anticipate a player to change contexts and have him perform identically right away,” the Arsenal manager stated in a discussion with the Spanish newspaper Marca before this game. “Situations are not the same. All players in the world need one thing: their psychological state to be at its optimum. I advised Viktor in our first meeting that the No 9 I desired at Arsenal was someone who could hold up mentally when they went six or eight games without scoring. Otherwise, you’re not cut out at this tier. That’s why I have a lot of faith in him.”

Youthful Struggles

It was as a 14-year-old playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are based in Stockholm’s southside districts, that Gyökeres first realised he would have to build resilience to succeed in his selected career. Criticised after a disappointing display by a coach who said he lacked the mindset to excel in professional play, he ultimately switched from a winger into a striker after joining Brommapojkarna two years later. “That one stuck with me 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 hardest times of his professional life. Gyökeres was sharply rebuked after Sweden were beaten by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the past fortnight, with one newspaper characterizing his outing against the latter as “absent.”

He managed an incredible 54 goals in 52 appearances in all tournaments for Sporting last season, so the issue is clearly not his scoring ability. As the manager has often noted, his complete game has given Arsenal an extra dimension in the final third, even if the opportunities have not come to him.

Key Moments

This was clearly apparent during the initial 45 minutes of this top-level clash between two teams that had at first appeared closely contested. There was a sense that Gyökeres was trying too hard to stand out as he bustled about like a disruptive presence during the beginning phase. An Eberechi Eze shot that deflected on to the bar inside the first few moments was set up by some quick moves on the edge of the Atlético area that niftily took him away from his defender, José María Giménez.

Giménez has the aura of a man who could provoke conflict anywhere but is deeply knowledgeable at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is competing in merely his second Champions League campaign after netting three goals for Sporting against Manchester City last season that must have gone a long way to convincing Arteta to take the plunge.

Constant Hustle

Yet having drawn comments that he was overweight after missing most of pre-season in Portugal, Arsenal’s noticeably leaner striker harried all opponents as if his career hung in the balance. Giménez was drawn into conceding a caution when Gyökeres ran into him on the edge of the Atlético area having only been stationary. Gabriel Martinelli saw his goal ruled out for offside after converting Bukayo Saka’s cross and it only came in the second half that the Swede had his initial opportunity.

A exquisite touch from Martinelli set Gyökeres up perfectly, only for Jan Oblak to swiftly block an unconvincing toe-poke towards goal. At that stage it must have felt like the breakthrough would not arrive. But the floodgates opened when Gabriel scored with a header Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the masked striker made his mark. “Hopefully this is the start of some beautiful sequences,” said a delighted Arteta.