Rooney praises Gyokeres after impressive Fulham display

Rooney praises Gyokeres after impressive Fulham display

Wayne Rooney has praised Viktor Gyokeres’ performance against Fulham on Saturday, with the Arsenal striker insisting the team never stopped believing they could win the Premier League title.

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Viktor Gyokeres put in one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt on Saturday, scoring two open-play goals and assisting another in the 3-0 win over Fulham.

The striker even had a couple of other good chances well saved by Bend Leno, so the three goals he contributed to were the least his efforts merited. It was an excellent individual display, and the player said afterwards that the team still believe they can win the Premier League title.

“We never stopped believing,” Gyokeres told Sky Sports. “We’re not going to. That’s how it is, and we keep going. A lot to play for still, we’re just going to focus on the next one now.”

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Speaking to Match of the Day later in the evening, former Manchester United and Everton striker Wayne Rooney had a lot of praise for the Arsenal forward.

“He was really impressive all afternoon today,” Rooney said. “I’m really pleased for him because he has had a bit of stick.

“Of course, he’d like to score more against the big teams, but I don’t think Arsenal have done that well against the big teams anyway, this season. How you win league titles is being consistent, I think consistently this season he has scored goals against the other teams.

“His minutes per goal, it’s right up there. You see the players below him, Sesko, Ekitike, Welbeck, who has had a great season. So his minutes per goal ratio is very good, and I think he’s been such an important signing for Arsenal.”

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Big teams or small, Gyokeres now has 21 goals in all competitions this season, becoming only the third Premier League player to pass 20 in the 2025/26 campaign.

The striker is also the first Arsenal player to score 20+ in their debut campaign since Alexis Sanchez, and only nine players have ever scored more for the Gunners in their debut season.

One big team Gyokeres has scored against this season is Atletico Madrid, scoring a brace in October and a penalty in the Champions League semi-final first leg earlier this week.

The focus now is on bagging another goal in the second leg and sending Arsenal to their first Champions League final for 20 years.

After that, the Gunners can turn their attentions back to the Premier League title race, with three games to play, and three wins likely required to have a chance to lift the trophy.