Arsenal star now told he should have been sent off for ‘awful’ incident v Palace

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Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has now blasted Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus for one thing he did against Crystal Palace.

Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus generally produced a solid performance against Crystal Palace last time out, but did not cover himself in glory with one blatant dive made in an attempt to win a penalty for his side.

Referee Paul Tierney did not point to the spot, nor did he deem the offence worthy of showing the Brazilian forward a yellow card.

Ultimately, it was far from a decisive moment in the match, as Mikel Arteta’s side were 5-0 winners on the day. However, that does not excuse Jesus’ behaviour.

The incident perhaps demonstrates just how desperate Jesus is to provide some sort of end product at this stage. The 26-year-old has underperformed in that sense so far this season, as he has just 3 Premier League strikes to his name after 16 outings in the competition.

Jesus himself has admitted that goalscoring is not one of the greatest strengths of his game. His profligacy is a large part of the reason why the north London club are currently on the lookout for a new striker in the market. Arsenal have been linked with a number of potential acquisitions in this part of the pitch. Ivan Toney has regularly been mooted as a likely target. There are even rumours of the club plotting an audacious swoop to snap up PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe.

Gabriel Jesus comes under fire from Chris Sutton

Chris Sutton was particularly incensed by Jesus’ dive against the Eagles. Speaking on BBC 606, the 50-year-old said, “the winner of this week’s Simulation Game, Gabriel Jesus, as he says it’s not good for the game Gabriel, you’re better than that, you’re better than that. That was awful wasn’t it, did you see the dive? It was awful. Why do players continuously throw themselves to the ground, I would send them off.”

The introduction of VAR ought to have stamped diving out the game, but clearly it remains, and the implementation of technology has failed to address many other issues, too.

Jesus ought to consider himself lucky he wasn’t punished for his attempt to con Tierney, and now needs to turn his full focus on to the Gunners’ upcoming clash with Nottingham Forest. With Liverpool to come after that game, now would be a great time for the former Manchester City man to rediscover his clinical edge.

If Arsenal are to stand any chance of winning the Premier League title this season then they need Jesus to start scoring regularly in the second half of the campaign, as Arteta is unlikely to be able to sign a new striker this month, given the lack of transfer funds available at the club.