Mikel Arteta has offered high praise for one of his summer signings in the wake of his Arsenal side winning a third game on the bounce in all competitions.
The Gunners made it two wins from two in the Champions League this season after defeating Olympiacos 2-0 on Wednesday night (October 1).
Victory for Mikel Arteta's men at the Emirates Stadium follows their win by the same scoreline against Athletic Bilbao away from home a fortnight ago.
Gabriel Martinelli was among six players to come into the starting line-up on matchday two for The Gunners, and he warranted his manager's decision when he opened the scoring after just 12 minutes.
The Brazilian showed good anticipation as he latched onto Viktor Gyokeres' effort that came off the post and slotted the ball into an empty net from close range.
After Olympiacos had threatened to draw level, Bukayo Saka came off the bench to seal the win for the home side in the dying moments, meeting skipper Martin Odegaard's through ball and slotting past Konstantinos Tzolakis.
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Arteta speaks highly of new signing after outing with Olympiacos
Arteta was keen to praise his captain after the game, but also had time to commend one of his team's recent additions in Gyokeres.
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The Swedish striker has come in for some criticism since arriving from Sporting Lisbon in a £64m deal in the summer.
Some in the media believe he has struggled to adapt to the fast pace of English football and that he has not done enough for his new side in games against strong opposition, with his three goals in an Arsenal shirt coming in games against Burnley and Nottingham Forest.
However, Arteta has kept a close eye on Gyokeres and was happy with what he saw from his new striker on Wednesday night.
"I sense that he's doing better and better things every game, and today he was denied a few times, he hit the post. Overall his performance was exceptional," the Arsenal boss claimed in his post-match news conference.
Arteta then mentioned that Gyokeres is key to his side due to offering more than just goals.
"Again, his work was really good. We want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn't do that, at least to do everything as he's doing for the team, because he's helping the team a lot," the 43-year-old explained.
Arteta went on to say that Gyokeres will "hopefully" end his five-game scoring drought when Arsenal take on West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon (October 4), and then go on a strong scoring run.
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