Viktor Gyokeres impressed for Sweden alongside Alexander Isak on Sunday night, with both players scoring in an emphatic win over Tunisia.
After a disappointing World Cup qualification campaign where they were extremely fortunate to wind up with a spot in the final tournament, Sweden desperately needed to show more in their opening game of the competition proper on Sunday night.
Among the reasons to be positive were their starting strike partnership of Viktor Gyokeres, in good form for Arsenal, and Alexander Isak, fit again after his injury struggles throughout 2025/26.
Gyokeres (making his World Cup debut) was heavily involved as Sweden took the lead, beating the goalkeeper and seeing his shot cleared off the line, only for Yasin Ayari to impressively turn in the rebound.
Gyokeres then provided an assist for Isak to score Sweden’s second, holding up the ball and playing a pass around the corner for the Liverpool man to run away and score.
Tunisia pulled one back through former Gunner Omar Rekik just before half-time, but Gyokeres restored Sweden’s two-goal lead just before the hour mark.
Isak pounced on a defensive error to win possession, and after a bit of a scramble the ball fell to Gyokeres, who made no mistake with his finish.
The Arsenal striker had a number of other chances throughout the match, but his goal and assist were ultimately sufficient to help Sweden on the way to an important 5-1 victory.
With Japan and the Netherlands drawing in the other game, Sweden have an early two-point lead at the top of their group.
Gyokeres has been vital to Sweden lately, scoring four goals in two games in their World Cup qualification play-offs in March, scoring in his only pre-World Cup friendly earlier in June, and now scoring and assisting in their opening match of the actual tournament.
With any luck, the striker will keep up this good form and go into his summer holidays feeling good about his 2026/27 with Arsenal.
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