Arsenal Can't Beat Liverpool, Gyokeres Becomes Target of Criticism

Arsenal failed to leave their rivals behind after drawing 0-0 against Liverpool. (X/@LFC)

Striker Viktor Gyokeres is the target of criticism after failing to show his sharpness which made Arsenal only able to play a 0-0 draw in the English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium, Friday, January 9, 2026 early morning WIB.

Arsenal have the opportunity to leave their competitors in order to smooth the way to winning the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004. Especially after Manchester City and Aston Villa failed to get full points. Man City, who played at home at the Etihad, were held by Brighton and Hove Albion 1-1.

The same thing happened to Villa who was unable to score a goal and drew 0-0 against Crystal Palace. Both of them have not been able to close the points gap with Arsenal who are at the top of the standings.

When a competitor loses points, Arsenal has the opportunity to widen the point gap if they beat Liverpool. Moreover, the Gunners play at home.

But the opposite happened. In the big match, the line-up of Arsenal's front players who rely on the trident of Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were unable to break Liverpool's goal.

Likewise, when manager Mikel Arteta sent out Gabriel Jesus who got support from Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli, he still couldn't break through the Reds' solid defense led by captain Virgil van Dijk.

Even more ironic, the same Gyokeres who didn't contribute at all for more than an hour was played by Arteta. In fact, the player who was bought for 63.5 million pounds from Sporting Lisbon only touched the ball eight times.

That means he hardly got the ball so that football pundit Gary Neville said the player didn't contribute at all to Arsenal.

"Gyokeres was completely ineffective in that match. He didn't contribute anything," Neville said, quoted by The Sun.

The player with the number 9 shirt has only scored five goals from 18 league matches. He has also played 11 matches without being able to score a goal.

However, he got support from Arteta. According to him, his players have several times got a good position to score a goal. It's just that Gyokeres always fails to get the ball that can be executed into a goal.

"He's always in a good position. It's just that the ball often doesn't come to him," said Arteta. "We do have to make improvements. In the second half, we even played not according to the standard we usually use. What is clear is that his performance is getting better," he said again.

The draw brings Arsenal to 49 points. They are still six points ahead of Man City and Villa who both have 43 points.

Meanwhile, Liverpool managed to secure a position in the Champions League zone. The defending champion, who has a record of 10 matches without ever losing, is ranked fourth with 35 points. Two points ahead of Brentford, who are in sixth place.

"Of course we are disappointed because we want to win this game," Arteta said.

"But overall we were able to dominate and create a number of opportunities in the first half. It's not easy to dominate the game when facing the defending champion because they are a good team," he said again.

In that match, Arsenal actually had trouble facing Liverpool. Even Liverpool almost won when Conor Bradley took advantage of the mistake of defender William Saliba when making a backpass towards goalkeeper David Raya. The ball that was intercepted by Bradley failed to be maximized because the shot he still passed over the crossbar.

In the second half, Liverpool dominated more. It's just that the attacks of the team coached by Arne Slot are less dangerous. The absence of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike who was injured and Mohamed Salah who appeared in the Africa Cup of Nations made the Pool's front line less biting.

Arsenal themselves had threatened Liverpool's goal through Jesus and Martinelli. Only their efforts could be thwarted by goalkeeper Alisson Becker. The score remained 0-0 until the end of the match.