Viktor Gyokeres scored a superb hat-trick to fire Sweden into Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying play-off final.
Sweden saw off Ukraine 3-1 in Valencia in a match that saw the striker provide Arsenal with a timely reminder of his threat in front of goal.
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He took just six minutes to open the scoring with a poacher’s finish from close range.
He added a second shortly after half-time with a trademark low drive to put Graham Potter’s side in pole position.
Hat-trick hero
And he kept his cool to fire home from the penalty spot 17 minutes from time to hand his country a comfortable victory.
His triple took his total for the season to 19 goals for club and country with 11 of his strikes coming in the Premier League.
Gyokeres holds the key to Sweden’s possible involvement at this summer’s World Cup.
The 27-year-old must shoulder the goalscoring burden in the absence of Liverpool’s Alexander Isak.
Sweden face Poland next week for a spot at the World Cup in North America, kicking off in June.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will no doubt be delighted by Gyokeres’ goalscoring exploits, but will hope his £64million signing can return unscathed for the final stretch of the title race.
Arsenal stars William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard and Jurrien Timber all pulled out of their respective national team squads with injury.
Former Crystal Palace star Eze will miss around four weeks of action with a calf injury.
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With doubts surrounding a host of key stars going into the final two months of the season, Arteta will hope his side can contend with the demands as Arsenal launch an assault on three competitions.
Arsenal return to action after the international break looking to put their Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester City firmly behind them.
The Gunners were second best against Pep Guardiola’s side and remain without a trophy in almost six years.
Arsenal are in pole position to lift the Premier League title for the first time since 2004, while the FA Cup and Champions League also provide realistic chances of glory.
Arteta says his side will use last Sunday’s defeat at Wembley as fuel to land bigger prizes at the end of the season.
“It’s hard because everyone as a player really wanted to win (the Carabao Cup) and I know the supporters wanted it. The fact that we haven’t managed to deliver it is very, very painful,” Arteta said.
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“We’ve had a remarkable eight months together, and now there’s an international break.
“We all go into there with a very hard feeling and pain, and we’re going to use that as fuel for the next two months.
“We keep going. It’s painful not to give them what they are hoping for and what they are cheering for, but we’ll recover from that and go again.”
