Should what Viktor Gyökeres did vs Arsenal change our opinion on him?

This seems to be a divisive question right now for how the Swede's performance did compared to the baseline.

Not only was yesterday a chance to see Arsenal play in a pretty important match for their Champions League advancement, it was also an opportunity for many people to get a good close look at Viktor Gyökeres. He is a player that has been heavily linked and is high on many fans’ wish list for an impact attacker to help bring the team to the next level.

Gyökeres has been on a tear in the Portuguese League and is doing so showing that his first season there was not just a flash in the pan.

He has 16 total goals in the League and is already at double digits even taking out the penalties.

He is doing this on impressive shot volume, while maintaining excellent average quality, and being an all-around bully for Sporting as they have gone unbeaten thus far in the League (the loss to Arsenal was the first loss this season outside of the Portuguese Super Cup in extra time in all competitions).

Gyökeres at this point probably has little left to prove in Portugal and little that we can learn about him from that level of opponent. This makes the matches like this one all the more important for him and really puts him under the microscope.

I have been browsing social media and listening to podcasts and it seems like the review of his performance has been mixed. There are some that saw it as a positive, some that saw it as a negative, and others where it came down in between the two.

That type of mixed opinion is something that I think makes for a good opportunity to dig in deeper.

The Stats

5 - Shots, 0.4 xG, 2 on target, 0 goals

3 - Key passes, 0.3 xG assisted, 0 assists

9 - Touches within 25 yards of goals, 5 in the box, 37 total touches

10 - Progressive passes received, 32 total passes received

6 - Progressive carries, 106.7 progressive yards carried net

0 - Dribbles competed, 10 times lost possession total

2 - Progressive passes, total progressive passing distance 6.3 yards net

1 - Time fouled

1 - Foul committed, no other defensive actions

0 - Aerial Duels won, of two contested

The stat line is certainly mixed here.

He has some good stuff, 5 shots and 8 total shot contributions worth 0.7 xG +xA is no doubt a solid line for him. He backed that up with good touch numbers and some good carry numbers.

The less good stuff was that he was often where the Sporting attacks went to die with him losing the ball 10 times total in 37 touches. Adding his losses from passing he turned the ball over on 37% of the times that he was on it, this also counts that he had 6 of those touches from kickoffs and those really shouldn’t count for it, bring it up to 42% of his touches.

He was still the player that had the biggest positive impact for Sporting:

His stat line in this match does back up the previous view that he is a high usage player, and that he is going to try things even if they don’t always come off.

Next lets got to the video on him.

Shooting