Gabriel Jesus was one of a number of Arsenal players to come up short in front of goal against Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Gunners’ profligate performance condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park. Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Martin Odegaard, all passed up goalscoring opportunities.
Odegaard, in fact, allowed two very presentable chances to go begging. After the match, many Arsenal fans were critical of the club captain’s wasteful display.
Mikel Arteta also feels that his sided needed to be far more efficient in front of goal. Speaking after the match, as quoted by the club’s official website, the Spanish coach said, “we lacked the accuracy in the opponent’s box to put the ball in the back of the net with the amount of situations that we generated.”
As the striker, Jesus should be expected to provide a goal threat. However, the Brazilian himself has admitted that goalscoring is not the strongest aspect of his game. In fact, so far this season, the 26-year-old has netted just twice in eleven Premier League outings.
He had a chance to add to his tally at Villa Park. In the second half, Saka fizzed a ball to Jesus in the Villa box. The former Manchester City man had found space between two defenders, and just had to bring the ball down and he would be one-on-one against Emiliano Martinez. However, Jesus’ touch let him down and the ball got away from him before he could get a shot off. It was the kind of situation that he has to make more of.
Do Arsenal need to replace Gabriel Jesus?
Steve Nicol certainly wasn’t impressed with Jesus’ efforts against the Midlands outfit. Speaking on ESPN, the former Liverpool star said, “I’ll tell you what, they need a centre forward. I remembered sitting thinking where’s Jesus? And I’m talking about an Arsenal side who I thought were dominating, particularly in the second-half.”
“It was all about defence for Villa. But we never saw Jesus. You can’t win the Premier League title with a man down, let’s put it that way. Because Jesus did absolutely nothing to help his team. And when you’ve got to break down a tight defence that’s on top of their game, you’ve got to produce. And he, never mind he didn’t produce, he just disappeared.”
There is no doubting that Jesus is a supremely talented player. He brings a lot to this Arsenal side, with his flair, dynamism, and pressing ability. He is also able to hold the ball up well, and bring his teammates into play with his exemplary link-up work. Ultimately, though, in terms of putting the ball into the back of the net, Jesus generally underperforms.
The north London club are thought to be in the market for a striker. This outing against Villa contributes to the argument that Jesus is a player that Arsenal ought to be looking for an upgrade on.
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