3 reasons why Gabriel Jesus is so important to Arsenal

Since returning from injury, Gabriel Jesus has scored five goals for Arsenal and has quickly returned to his best after sub-par performances against Southampton and Man City.

Those performances raised some eyebrows, with many online questioning if he was good enough to lead the line for Arsenal, but against Chelsea and Newcastle, the Brazilian showed just how important he is.

After a long layoff, there is always a period of readapting. For some, there is a slow return to form, while for others they start fast and have a period of fatigue. With Jesus, that fatigue appeared to kick in during his two-game dip, but he looks very much back to his best and intent on finishing the season on a high.

3 reasons why Gabriel Jesus is so important to Arsenal

1. Chaos

When Gabriel Jesus signed for Arsenal, Mikel Arteta said: “He creates chaos and uncertainty and is always on your shoulder, he is always there to nick the ball off you, he’s always in front of the goal,”

Before the World Cup, we saw that in abundance, with Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard thriving from the space he created and his tireless tenacity. Since returning to the team, he has brought that back to Arsenal, and his grit was on full display at Newcastle.

St James’ Park is one of the toughest grounds to visit, but he relished the battle against Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Kieran Trippier, even taking an elbow to the face, in what was a very aggressive tie.

Despite not scoring, the Newcastle defence, which is currently the best statistically in the Premier League, struggled to handle him as he popped up all over the park, dragging them out of position and closing them down any time they got near the ball.

His performance showed exactly what Arsenal were missing during the side’s 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium in January, and why he has to play.

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