Underwhelming, second choice, not good enough. These are all reasonable ways to describe Viktor Gyokeres’ Arsenal career so far but put him in a Sweden kit and he suddenly becomes one of the best strikers around.

Gyokeres cannot stop scoring for his national team. A goal against Romania on Monday was his fourth in as many matches. He’s scored in every game of this elongated international break.

He’s on 25 goals for his country now, putting him 11th in Sweden’s all-time top scorer list and with a better goals-per-minute ratio than all but two players ahead of him, and those two were born before the Second World War.

Gyokeres’ prolific goal-scoring ability will have some Arsenal fans rubbing their eyes and wondering if he has a twin brother they did not know about.

The Swede has been rubbish for Arsenal in recent times. His last goal came against Fulham in May and he has since played 10 games without finding the back of the net.

That form, plus his overall play, saw him dropped in the latter half of last season in favour of Kai Havertz, despite Gyokeres being the club’s top scorer, and he started this season on the bench.

Mikel Arteta’s apparent lack of faith was best demonstrated by Gyokeres not even making a Premier League appearance until the third game of the season and even then it was only a 12-minute run-out.

His starts have been confined to cup competitions so far, so how can he be so good for his national team and so bad for his club?

Gyokeres has been on FIRE for Sweden 🔥🔥! Scores again today against Romania 🇷🇴 ! The man just can’t stop scoring #ROMSWE
https://t.co/DU5SRtVtbE

— The Final Whistle (@Rufus_45) October 5, 2026

Club managers are able to mould their sides into how they would like with transfers enabling them to get exactly the right players. For international managers, it is more a case of working with what you’ve got.

Graham Potter has at his disposal two excellent strikers in the form of Gyokeres and Alexander Isak and so has gone for a 4-4-2 to get the best out of them.

Playing alongside Isak, a player more naturally suited to being involved in the build-up, has allowed Gyokeres to stick up top and only worry about scoring goals.

Another explanation is the level of opponent Gyokeres and Sweden have faced. Poland are the only side ranked above Sweden in their Nations League group and it is fair to say all 20 Premier League teams are better than those four countries.

Confidence will be another factor. Potter has been supporting Gyokeres pretty much ever since he got the Sweden job and he is far less criticised in his home country than under the microscope of the Premier League.

Gyokeres’ goal-scoring form for his country comes at an interesting time for Arteta and Arsenal. Early in this international break, Havertz picked up a hamstring injury and looks to be out for the first game back.

That is an opportunity for Gyokeres, but do not be surprised if he is back to struggling in Arsenal’s system.

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