Mikel Arteta believes Viktor Gyokeres has raised his game to the “highest level” after he scored a second-half brace in Arsenal’s 3-0 win against Sunderland.

Following Martin Zubimendi’s impressive first-half opener at the Emirates Stadium, Gyokeres landed his first just six minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The Sweden international then completed his brace in stoppage time to put the gloss on a win which moved Arteta’s side nine points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

Gyokeres has faced criticism during his first campaign in north London. But his double takes his tally to four in as many matches, and six from his last eight appearances.

Since the start of the year, no Premier League player has scored more goals than Gyokeres’ five across all competitions.

And Arteta said: “Confidence is the magic word. When you feel confident, when you feel important, when you feel at your best, that’s when you can really take your game to the highest level.

“We are really behind him in every moment to try to help him, to try to support him. And he is delivering, and he’s in a really good moment now.

“Obviously, when you put that shirt on, there is lot of responsibility and huge expectation, and you need to live with that.

“In your journey, you’re going to have moments where it goes really well, and then others where it is going to be tough.

“With Viktor, it’s very difficult to understand his emotions because he looks straight at you. But he doesn’t seem too affected by the real highs or the lows. He’s very demanding of himself, he’s constantly trying to improve.

“I love his character, the way he approaches every single day and the fact that he’s so focused on the present, what he has to do, and he has a genuine will to help the team in whatever role he has.”

Arsenal are now in a strong position to claim their first title since 2004 with 39 points left to play for across the final 13 rounds.

Manchester City will have to beat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday to trim Arsenal’s advantage back to six points.

But when asked what his team’s latest victory means in their quest to take the title, Arteta replied: “Nothing. We still have to win so many games to achieve what we want.

“I’m going to have a beautiful dinner tonight. Tomorrow I start to prepare for Brentford (on Thursday), because it’s going to be a really tough one.

“And in the meantime, I will be watching a big, big game (between Liverpool and City).”

Sunderland have been the league’s surprise package this season but this was their third defeat in four matches.

Manager Regis Le Bris said: “At the beginning of the second half we had opportunities to get back in the game, but we didn’t seize those opportunities and if you don’t do that against a team like Arsenal – one of the best teams in England and Europe – then the game has gone.”