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VIKTOR GYOKERES is wearing the No14 shirt made famous by Thierry Henry and the Swede is also looking to become an Arsenal legend.

Unfortunately for the club’s big summer signing, he had just 14 touches on his Emirates debut before being replaced in the 62nd minute, so this will not be a night he looks back with fondness.

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Not that it really matters, obviously.

If Viktor Gyokeres fires the goals to end Arsenal’s role as permanent Premier League bridesmaids to clinch the title, and there is no reason why he cannot, the Swede will be forgiven if he takes time to adjust in north London.

On the night all eyes were on the new arrival from Sporting Lisbon, absolutely no-one had taken any notice of Villarreal’s Nicolas Pepe.

So while we all expected an expensive signing by Arsenal to score, you would not have had any money on it being £72m Arsenal flop Pepe.

Villarreal’s Ivory Coast international scored the first goal and Karl Etta Eyong made it 2-0 before new arrival Christian Norgaard scored with a header.

Yet while we have spent the last few weeks talking about the need of a top striker, Mikel Arteta’s team will have to defend better than this, and sub Arnaut Danjuma made it 3-1 before Martin Odegaard pulled one back from the penalty spot.

Villarreal then won a penalty shoot-out 4-3 with another new arrival, Noni Madueke, missing the decisive spot-kick.

Gyokeres, who cost £8.5million less than Pepe, made his club debut as a 77th minute substitute against Spurs in Hong Kong but was given a heroes’ welcome at a packed Emirates.

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If Arsenal are to get the best out of their new all-singing, all-dancing goal machine, they will have to give him more ammunition.

Equally, Gyokeres did not have a proper pre-season as he barely trained in Lisbon.

He will soon be in better shape and has another run-out on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao.

Gyokeres tried to score his first goal in spectacular style but failed to connect with an attempted bicycle kick from Bukayo Saka’s cross and he had few other chances.

In terms of the way he moves and the fact has blonde hair, it was a bit like having Nicklas Bendtner back at the Emirates although it is safe to say Gyokeres will do a bit better than the cocky Dane.

Arteta also gave second half Emirates debuts to Christhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Madueke. 

Yet the comedy moment of the night was Pepe opening the scoring from close range and then refusing to celebrate.

Pepe arrived from Lille for that massive amount in 2019 and scored just 27 goals in 112 appearances before joining Trabzonspor on a free transfer in 2023.

Many Arsenal fans probably did not realise that Pepe was even playing in this fixture although there was a mixture of jeers and applause when his name was read out after scoring.

Etta Eyong scored at the far post for 2-0 before former Brentford captain Norgaard pulled one back with a far post header before the break.

The biggest roar of the night came just after the hour when 15-year-old Max Dowman was unleashed.

Villarreal caught Arsenal on the break with former Bournemouth forward Danjuma making it 3-1 before Dowman won a penalty and Odegaard, who replaced Gyokeres, got Arsenal’s second.

There was still a shoot-out although Madueke saw his shot saved with one fan shouting: “send him back to Chelsea.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal – yet again – have fitness concerns.

Both defender Riccardo Calafiori, who suffered an injury on the tour, along with Kai Havertz, were missing from the squad.

Kate Middleton looked emotional at the Wimbledon Centre Court reception as she made a rare public appearance for the Women’s Final

Kate Middleton was given a standing ovation as she returned to Centre Court for the Ladies’ Singles Wimbledon Final on Saturday.

The Princess of Wales‘ emotional arrival into the Royal Box comes after she has scaled back her public appearances since revealing her cancer diagnosis last year.

Kate looked radiant as she made her entrance, dressed in a chic yellow dress with a pleated skirt and belted waist. Eagle-eyed fans will have noticed a stand-out bow accessory pinned to Kate’s dress. Prince William’s wife has been seen wearing the small dark green and purple bow attached below her shoulder at the sporting event in previous years.

But fans may not know the special reason for the fashion statement.

Kate is the patron of the AELTC, which conducts the day-to-day operations of The Championships and has been since 2016. The club made green and purple the official colours back in 1909. Kate first made the sartorial show of support in 2017 and has worn the same garment to the sporting event ever since.

The princess, who is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, attended the final of the Women’s competition where Iga Swiatek beat Amanda Asiminova 6-0, 6-0.

Other VIPs lucky enough to get a seat in the royal box included former long-distance runner Mo Farah and former US world tennis No1 Billie Jean King.

Kate later presented the trophy to Swiatek. She also had some kind words for Anisimova who burst into tears after the match.

Anisimova was the first women’s singles finalist not to win a game for more than a century, going back to 1911.

Revealing details of her conversation with Kate, she said after the trophy ceremony: “It was such an honour to meet her,” Anisimova said. “I wasn’t sure if she was going to come out today, if she was going be there, so it was just really nice to see her. She definitely had a few things to say that were making me emotional again! But she was really kind, and she told me to keep my head high.

“I don’t really want to reveal everything she said to me, but I also spoke to her again after the match, because I passed by her, and she had all the best to say to me. So I guess it was a positive of today, and I can try and focus on that and not the match.”

Kate returned to public duties on July 2 with a visit to a hospital’s well-being garden, where she spoke candidly about her cancer recovery. She said, “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment, treatments done, then it’s like, “I can crack on, get back to normal,’ but actually the phase afterwards is really, really difficult.”

The visit marked her first appearance since missing Royal Ascot on June 18.

Iran’s president says his nation will not be intimidated by threats as Trump accuses Tehran of carrying out proxy wars.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not “bow to any bully” in response to United States President Donald Trump’s criticism of Tehran during his ongoing three-day Gulf tour.

“He [Trump] thinks he can come here, chant slogans, and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed. You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully,” he said on Wednesday in comments broadcast live on state TV.

Earlier in the day, during the GCC summit in Riyadh, Trump said that while he wanted to make a deal with Iran, the country “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons”.

Washington and Tehran have held four meetings that were mediated by Oman to help reach a deal over the latter’s nuclear programme.

While attending a state dinner in the Qatari capital in Doha on Wednesday, Trump repeated his publicly stated desire for a peaceful resolution to Iran’s nuclear programme and suggested the ball is in Tehran’s court.

“It’s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing,” Trump said. “We want to do something that’s going to save maybe millions of lives. Because things like that get started, and they get out of control.”

On Tuesday, Trump said that he wanted “to make a deal with Iran”, but “if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch … we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure”. He added that he would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Successive US administrations have sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A sustained effort by world powers during the Barack Obama administration culminated in a 2015 agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

But when Trump succeeded Obama as US president, he unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, causing the deal to crumble.

Despite ongoing talks, the Trump administration has continued to impose sanctions on Iran.

On Wednesday, the US issued sanctions targeting Iran for efforts to domestically manufacture components for ballistic missiles, the US Department of the Treasury said.

The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities for what the Treasury Department said was “their involvement in efforts to help the Iranian regime domestically source the manufacturing of critical materials needed for Tehran’s ballistic missile program”.