Can Viktor Gyökeres now kick-start his Arsenal career?

On Tuesday night, having been nine appearances for club and country without a goal, the Swedish striker scored twice in two minutes as the Gunners demolished Atlético Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League, named man of the match.

This takes Gyökeres’ tally to five goals for the club, all coming in home wins, now hoping this will be the start of a scoring spree, given that their upcoming opponents are Crystal Palace, Brighton, Burnley, Slavia Prague and Sunderland, before the small matter of a North London derby.

So, which teammate could truly get the best out of the man who proudly wears number 14 on his back, perhaps recreating Arsenal’s best-ever attacking partnership?

Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry's Arsenal legacy

Gooners of a certain vintage may well argue that they had the pleasure of watching the club’s two best attackers of all time play together, a key reason why Arsène Wenger’s side won the double in 2002 and were Invincible two seasons later.

Dennis Bergkamp spent over a decade in North London after arriving from Internazionale in 1995, scoring 120 goals and registering 116 assists for the club.

The non-flying Dutchman, a nickname given to him due to his aviophobia, was the archetypal number ten during a period where second strikers were on the rise in English football, with Eric Cantona at Manchester United and Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea.

Bergkamp was renowned for his impeccable first touch and mind-blowing technical quality, with Wenger praising his “exceptional brain” while Ian Wright believes that “Dennis changed the DNA” of the whole club, transforming from a defensive long ball team known as ‘boring boring Arsenal’ into the free-flowing side they would become, because Bergkamp was so good “you couldn’t bypass him”.

He would, of course, form a formidable partnership with Thierry Henry, who remains the Gunners’ all-time leading goalscorer with 228, the pair combining for a total of 18 Premier League goals during the 2003/04 season alone.

Unlike Arsenal’s current number 14, Henry was capable of producing magic moments all by himself, albeit it didn’t half help having Bergkamp, Robert Pirès, Freddie Ljungberg and others supplying him.

So, as Gyökeres looks to emulate Henry, now only 223 goals behind his all-time record, which may prove just out of reach, who could be his Bergkamp, thereby getting the best out of the Swede?

Arsenal's new Dennis Bergkamp

As already alluded to, the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp three decades ago was viewed as transformational, the only good thing Bruce Rioch did as manager, and the Gunners are now hopeful that Eberechi Eze’s move from Crystal Palace could have a similar effect.

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Well, the aforementioned Ian Wright certainly believes this could be the case, asserting that the move was “like when Bergkamp came”, adding “we need a player that has got a little bit more maverick… he’s a game-changer”.

Seemingly set to move to fierce rivals Tottenham, the last-minute U-turn which saw the boyhood Arsenal fan return home in August will forever remain a highlight of this season for supporters, irrespective of what the actual football delivers, emphasised by the reception he got when he was unveiled prior to the 5-0 demolition of Leeds.

So far, the England international opened his Arsenal account against Port Vale in the EFL Cup, while bagging his third assist for the club in mid-week, setting up Gyökeres to score the third during the demolition of Atlético Madrid.

The table below documents Eze’s influence over his new team.

Minutes

613

9th

Goals

1

8th

Assists

3

1st

Shots

16

4th

Shots on target

6

2nd

Big chances created

3

2nd

Key passes

7

7th

Shot-creating actions

23

5th

Goal-creating actions

4

2nd

Successful take-ons

10

2nd

As the table outlines, despite generally limited minutes, Eze’s creative influence has been on show so far, notching three assists, the joint-most of any Arsenal player, while also ranking second for big chances created and goal-creating actions.

Last season at Crystal Palace, he registered eight assists and created 11 Opta-defined big chances in the Premier League, hence why Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta pushed the boat out to sign him,

So, have there been signs that Eze and Gyökeres could work well in tandem?

Well, exhibit A in that regard would be the second goal during September’s 3-0 victory over Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest, with Eze putting the ball on a plate for Gyökeres to fire home from mere picometers out.

As has been well documented, unlike Henry, Gyökeres is a striker very much reliant on others for service, touching the ball only 26 times on Tuesday, but scoring two goals, which is what he is in the team to do; to paraphrase Roy Keane, that’s his job!

With Ødegaard sidelined for another few weeks at least, much of the creative burden will fall on Eze, but he is more than capable of shouldering this responsibility.

While the pair have got a long way to go to be anywhere near as good as Bergkamp and Henry, they might just be able to fire the Gunners to a first Premier League triumph since those glory years.