Gabriel Jesus left struggling Arsenal teammate between a rock and hard place

It's clear to see that Arsenal is a better team with Gabriel Jesus in than out. During his stint with the Gunners, he's been on the sidelines through injury one too many times. However, whenever he's returned to the fray, Arsenal has looked like a far more exciting team.

This is a lesson that Mikel Arteta keeps learning, and he's being taught it again in real time. After returning to action last week against Club Brugge, Gabriel Jesus then made his second cameo since returning from injury at the weekend.

Despite the goal not being his and instead awarded as an own goal, Gabriel Jesus injected life into the Arsenal attack when he came on in both games.

It's great news for Arsenal, but not everyone.

Gabriel Jesus will finally raise a challenge to Viktor Gyökeres

Viktor Gyökeres is going through a poor period right now. You could even argue that it's been the case for his entire Arsenal journey so far.

The Swedish international had all the capabilities of becoming one of the best strikers in the league, but with only three goals in his last 15 appearances across all competitions, many are dubbing him a flop.

Mikel Arteta is clearly a fan of Viktor Gyökeres, but there's only so much patience a coach can have when a player is severely underperforming on the metric that matters most.

Now that Gabriel Jesus has returned to action, it makes matters worse for Viktor Gyökeres. He is now competing for a place with Mikel Merino AND Gabriel Jesus.

Mikel Merino provides what Gyökeres doesn't: goals. Gabriel Jesus doesn't score as much as Gyökeres is capable of, but he does bring a certain energy to the front-line.

Just last week, Mikel Arteta made the rallying call for Gabriel Jesus to push for a place in the starting lineup. Therefore, Arteta wants the healthy competition in the squad, he won't shy away from it.

Unfortunately for Viktor Gyökeres, it only really ends one way, and that is with reduced minutes.

It would be incredibly harsh for Gyökeres to be thrown onto the bench straight away, but the minutes he is allowed on the field will only decrease. That is, unless he plays a blinder that warrants every minute being played.

The way he's playing right now, though, Arteta will be counting his lucky stars that he has Gabriel Jesus to kick him up the backside.