Gabriel Jesus was able to respond to his critics with a stunning hat-trick as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.
Gabriel Jesus fired the Gunners into the EFL Cup semi-finals with a hat-trick at the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal battled to a 3-2 victory over the Eagles.
The Brazilian striker was in dire need of such a display, as prior to this encounter he had netted just once for Arsenal, across all competitions, since January. As his confidence grew against Crystal Palace, though, his clinical edge in the final third returned.
Arsenal fans were delighted with Jesus’ performance, and the former Manchester City man must now kick on and build on this performance.
However, he is not the only Arsenal star who deserves credit for this win, as Martin Odegaard also changed the game after he was introduced from the bench.
What Gabriel Jesus said to Martin Odegaard against Crystal Palace
Mikel Arteta hailed Odegaard’s impact as a substitute, and now wants to see the rest of his Arsenal squad following the club captain’s example in this regard.
Stepping into the action for the second half, at which point the North London club were 1-0 down, Odegaard provided the assist for two of Jesus’ goals to help turn the game around.
As quoted by The Mirror, Jesus revealed after the match that he and the midfielder had planned a means of combining against Crystal Palace.
He said: “The quality that Martin has is amazing. He’s a type of a player that can pass these balls and put you in front of the goal.
“That’s what I was telling him; I said ‘Martin I know your qualities, so I’ll go in behind. If it’s open, I go, you don’t need to look, I will be there.’ He played amazing balls and I was able to finish the action.
“B [Bukayo Saka] as well, but I think everyone today tried their best, it’s not easy when you change a lot, normally we don’t play together a lot in the games, and that’s a little bit tricky. At the end we did our job and won the game.”
This scheme paid off to devastating effect, as the duo booked Arsenal’s place in the next round of the competition.
What Arsenal need from Jesus now
Arteta needs Jesus to show that he can now feed off of his newfound confidence and begin contributing for the club on a regular basis.
It has been argued that Arsenal need to give up on Jesus, but if he can now show consistency and begin delivering goals on a regular basis then he could yet salvage his career at the Emirates Stadium.
The 27-year-old is unlikely to immediately leapfrog Kai Havertz in the pecking order, but he may well be in contention to start against Crystal Palace in the Premier League this weekend, off the back of his EFL Cup exploits.
The pressure is now on Jesus to prove that his hat-trick heroics weren’t just a flash in the pan, and that he actually is getting back to his best.
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