Neither Alexander Isak nor Viktor Gyokeres aided the plight of the fans of their respective clubs in arguments as to whether they’re ginormous wastes of money and space through their displays for Sweden during the international break. They both played every minute against Switzerland on Friday and then Kosovo on Monday, and… not a sausage.
Sweden now sit rock bottom of Group B on one point. Kosovo have only ever beaten one other team in 22 previous World Cup qualifying games having become a UEFA member in 2016 – Georgia, 1-0 in 2021 – aside from their wins home and away this year against the Swedes and their famous flopping strikers.
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Gyokeres arrived at Arsenal as one of the most prolific goalscorers in Europe. After topping the 2024 charts with 52 goals, he’s fallen behind Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane in the 2025 ranking following his £55m move to the Emirates after scoring just three goals in 14 games for club and country. Those goals have come against Leeds and Nottingham Forest.
Flat-track or not, at least Gyokeres appears to be a bully of some sort, in the Premier League at least, whereas after one goal – against Southampton – in nine appearances for club and country this season, Alexander Isak looks to be the victim of torment, if anything.
The tiny violins will be out in Newcastle after he refused to train or play in a bid to force through his move to Liverpool from St James’ Park, and the lack of a pre-season which that downing of tools brought about appears to have cut him off at the knees.
While there’s a case to be made for Gyokeres improving Arsenal on the basis of him occupying defenders and stretching the game even if he’s not scoring, there’s no way to put a similar positive spin on Isak’s impact at Liverpool, with his return to action coinciding with the Reds’ mini-crisis which has seen the Gunners leapfrog them at the top of the table.
Isak hit the target twice in seven shots in the games against Switzerland and Kosovo, while Gyokeres worked the keeper just once in four attempts. They may well blame their ducks on a lack of service, as their advocates at club level will continue to do for as long as is reasonable before admitting they’re not fit for purpose if they don’t show dramatic improvement after their frankly terrible starts to the season.
But they’ve got Anthony Elanga and Lucas Bergvall behind them, so it’s not as if they’re left to fend for themselves as a pair in attack. And also lads, it’s Kosovo. Two of their three centre-backs have a combined market value of £1.3m, while the third – Albian Hajdari – was playing just his second game for his country.
By all rights, they should have been torn apart by what should perhaps be the most feared striker partnership in the world, but instead were barely threatened by Isak and Gyokeres, who will return to Liverpool and Arsenal with their confidence somehow even lower than when they left to resume their fight for flop supremacy.
