Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has backtracked on Arsenal star Viktor Gyokeres after suggesting that he could ‘cost’ his side the Premier League title.
Gyokeres joined Arsenal in the summer from Sporting Lisbon for a fee in the region of £64m after they chose him over Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko.
The Swedish international scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting Lisbon, but he was making a significant step up to Arsenal and has been criticised for his performances at times this season.
Gyokeres has been ineffective in certain big matches, but he moved to 15 goals for the 2025/26 campaign with his brace against Spurs at the weekend.
Carragher has previously tipped Gyokeres to fall behind Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz in the pecking order at Arsenal this season.
“I’m a huge fan of [Gabriel] Jesus. He’s not always been an amazing finisher but he is a fantastic footballer. I think maybe the only negative of the night for Arsenal is that Gyokeres shouldn’t be starting for Arsenal when they’ve got players like this (Jesus),” Carragher said in December.
He added: “Him or Havertz as the central striker for Arsenal is a better player than Gyokeres. Gyokeres is really game and I admire him for taking that penalty against Everton, he always looks really intense.
“But I think he just lacks that finesse and quality when you think about what they have on the bench. Don’t forget, City have [Erling] Haaland so I think Arsenal need to improve on what they have in Gyokeres and they have players who can improve on Gyokeres in Jesus.”
However, Carragher has now admitted that he was wrong about Gyokeres.
“The thing I like about Viktor Gyokeres is his mentality,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
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“I don’t think he’s a world-class striker or an amazing striker for Arsenal for the next five or years.
“But I absolutely love his mentality. There’s no lack of confidence with him, he just gets the ball and bangs it in, it’s Alan Shearer-like, that sort of mentality.
“As Gary Neville said on commentary, I think that’s the best we’ve seen Gyokeres play in an Arsenal shirt, it was an absolutely fantastic finish.
“He could be [vital] and what I would say is here, is credit the manager. I felt they had to come away from Gyokeres and I thought at some stage it might cost them.
“But the manager has stuck by him week after week and the strength he showed in this game, it was very Alan Shearer-like.
“We were looking at the strikers Arsenal had and I felt he was quite far down the pecking order and a few times I was quite surprised that Gyokeres was still in the team.
“But fair play to the manager because he’s kept him in and he’s repaid him in one of Arsenal’s biggest games of the season.”
