Arsenal 3-0 Athletic Bilbao: Viktor Gyokeres Nets First Goal As Gunners Clinch Emirates Cup

Arsenal beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to claim the Emirates Cup on Saturday, with Viktor Gyokeres netting his first goal for the Gunners.

The hosts controlled the match from the outset at the Emirates Stadium, with Bukayo Saka posing constant problems for Inigo Lekue down the Arsenal right.

Arsenal created several early openings, as Saka fired a tame shot at Unai Simon from a tight angle and Riccardo Calafiori blasted over the crossbar from outside the penalty area.

Also Read: Match Highlights

The Gunners finally broke the deadlock in the 34th minute, courtesy of new frontman Gyokeres, who buried a powerful header off Martin Zubimendi’s whipped cross to put Arsenal ahead.

Saka quickly doubled Arsenal’s advantage just two minutes later, polishing off a neat move involving Gabriel Martinelli after Martin Odegaard’s chipped pass split Athletic's defence.

New signing Noni Madueke also impressed with driving runs as Athletic struggled to threaten, with the hosts in complete control.

Kai Havertz came off the bench to round off a sensational Arsenal performance, latching onto a ball over the top and breaking away at pace before sliding a clever shot across Simon in the 82nd minute.

Data Debrief: Gyokeres gives Gunners a glorious glimpse

With his brilliant first goal for the club, Gyokeres offered the Emirates faithful an early glimpse of his quality.

Over his last two seasons at Sporting CP, Gyokeres netted 68 league goals in just 66 games, more than any player in Europe’s top five leagues scored during that time.

In that same period, the Swede outperformed his 53.6 expected goals (xG) by 14.4. No other player in Europe’s top 10 leagues could match that overperformance.