Gyokeres breaks Nations League record amid Arsenal game-time wait

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Viktor Gyokeres has become the first player in history to score in six consecutive Nations League appearances after netting for Sweden in Friday night's 1-1 draw away to Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The Arsenal striker opened the scoring on the hour mark at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, before Kerim Alajbegovic levelled for the hosts to share the points in Group B4.

It was his second goal of this international break, having also found the net in Sweden's wins over Romania and Poland. The record run stretches back to November 2024, when he scored four times against Azerbaijan, and takes in strikes against Estonia and Slovakia.

Sweden face Romania again in Bucharest on Monday night, where Gyokeres will have the chance to extend the sequence to seven.

A different story in north London

The international form arrives against the backdrop of a stop-start season at club level for the 28-year-old, who has had to settle for a reduced role so far this term.

His future was the subject of plenty of noise over the summer, with Arsenal linked to Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez as the club weighed up adding another centre-forward.

Gyokeres addressed that speculation directly in comments reported by football.london, insisting an exit never crossed his mind.

"Of course, there was a lot of speculation," Gyokeres said. "But I had a full pre-season, and it felt good. I was fully focused on Arsenal. For me, staying was a given. I'm extremely happy at the club."

He added: "It's clear that I want to play football and as much as possible. Hopefully that will come, too. You always want to be on the field as a football player. Of course you expect more playing time, but we have an extremely good squad with a lot of good players and have been doing well here at the start."

An opening may be coming

Kai Havertz, who has been preferred through the middle for much of the campaign, picked up a muscle strain on international duty with Germany. He is expected to be in contention for Arsenal's return to action against Leeds on October 10, though a full 90 minutes appears unlikely at this stage.

That leaves Arteta with a decision to make about how hard to push the German so soon after a muscular issue — and a striker returning from the break with his confidence visibly high.

The Premier League is in the middle of a three-week hiatus, giving Gyokeres one more fixture in Bucharest to build on a run that has already written him into the Nations League record books.

Arsenal's squad will reconvene at London Colney in the coming days with the Leeds fixture the first marker of a packed autumn schedule.