Rio Ferdinand has challenged Gary Lineker’s claim that Arsenal striker Victor Gyokeres needs to start scoring against the top teams to avoid being called a “flat-track bully”.

The Gunners spent over ￡250m on eight new recruits in the summer with Gyokeres costing them around ￡63.5m, including add-ons.

Arsenalhave been needing a top striker for a couple of years and now they have a player who scored 54 goals in 52 matches for Sporting CP last season.

Gyokeres has not been the prolific goalscorer Arsenal fans had hoped for, with the Sweden international scoring six goals in 14 matches in all competitions.

The Swede scored over the weekend as the Gunners beat Burnley 2-0 in a comfortable win to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to six points.

Former England striker Lineker said on the Rest is Football: “I don’t want to call him a flat-track bully, that’s a bit unfair.

READ:?Premier League prize money table revealed with shock leader after being picked more than Arsenal and Liverpool

“The criticism that people perhaps would say is that what he did in Portugal, he didn’t really score many goals against the top teams, and so far his goals have been against Burnley, Forest and Leeds.

“He needs to do it in some of the big games, but I think he’s had a reasonable start.”

But Manchester United legend Ferdinand insists most of the best strikers in Premier League history scored most of their goals against the smaller clubs.

Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel: “I don’t agree with all this, ‘he’s a flat track bully, etc.’ Who cares if he is?

MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365…
?? Arsenal top, Wolves bottom, Liverpool being sh*t and other inevitable things we should have seen coming
?? Arsenal set-piece horror is confected nonsense of the terminally online
???Slavia Prague vs Arsenal: Predictions, expected line-ups, how to watch and stats

“That might be just what Arsenal need. Of all the great strikers who’ve played in the Premier League, none of them scored most of their goals against the biggest teams.

“When you win the league, the big games against your title rivals take care of themselves normally. Most of the time, you lose your games when you don’t beat the teams you’re meant to beat.

“Where did Arsenal drop points in the back end of last season? The smaller teams. If he’s the type of player that’s going to go and bully those types of teams, you should go and win the league. That’s the missing part of the jigsaw you were looking for.

“So, all this, “but he can’t do it against the bigger teams”, who cares? Someone else will find a way. Arsenal have got 11 different scorers in the Premier League. Nobody else has more than that.

“So that tells you they’re sharing enough goals around. If he can bully the rubbish teams and the average teams, I think you’re going to win the league.”