'The physicality': What Ruben Amorim has said on Viktor Gyökeres before facing Arsenal

Manchester United take on Arsenal in Sunday’s Premier League curtain-raiser at Old Trafford.

Ahead of the game, manager Ruben Amorim was posed with plenty of questions. One of those was centred on Gyökeres, who made a huge mark under his management at Sporting CP.

The Sweden international has joined the Gunners on the back of scoring 97 goals in the last two seasons at the Lisbon outfit. When asked about the prospect of facing him, Amorim said that the striker is coming from a different league with a different physicality.

The Portuguese tactician added that Gyökeres is a ‘very good’ player who is going to give ‘different characteristics’ at Arsenal, but United must be prepared for whoever leads the line between him and Kai Havertz for the London club.

He said: “That is a question for Mikel, but Viktor is in a different league, the physicality is different. In Sporting, they have a very good group of scouting, because we get from that the players that they can buy and then sell to survive.

“I think he’s a very good player, he’s going to give different characteristics. It’s going to be different if we face in the beginning of the game if we face Viktor or Havertz, for example. So, we need to be prepared for that, but it’s not a surprise to watch Viktor in a big club in England.”

Amorim managed Gyökeres for almost 18 months at Sporting CP before taking charge at United. There were suggestions that the duo could reunite at Old Trafford, but that did not happen in the end.

The Red Devils have instead signed another fantastic striker in Benjamin Sesko. The Slovenian has immense potential and could become a world-class marksman with the right guidance.

Amorim should be aware of Gyökeres’ weaknesses and will no doubt seek to exploit the same and keep him quiet. Still, there are plenty of match winners within the Arsenal squad to be wary of.

United must be defensively astute over 90 minutes to come up with their first league victory over the Gunners since September 2022, when they secured a 3-1 triumph at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils beat Arsenal in the FA Cup third round on penalties last term, but they have not been on the winning side in the previous five league meetings, with four losses and a draw.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

Article written by Sri Aswin .