Gabriel Jesus endured a frustrating afternoon in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, playing the full 90 minutes without finding the back of the net. The match, which showcased Arsenal’s dominance, also highlighted Jesus’ ongoing struggles with form and consistency. The Brazilian striker has faced scrutiny this season, and this game provided an opportunity to silence his critics. However, he failed to capitalise, leaving doubts about his place in the squad.
Adding to Jesus’ woes, 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri made an emphatic impact. Introduced with just eight minutes of regular time remaining, the talented youngster scored Arsenal’s third goal, capping off a memorable cameo. Nwaneri has been pushing for more minutes, and his clinical finish has intensified calls for Mikel Arteta to trust him more. The teenager’s performance has sparked debate about whether he could eventually challenge Jesus for a starting role.
Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit weighed in on the situation, suggesting that Nwaneri’s goal sends a concerning signal to Jesus. Speaking on Premier League Productions, Petit remarked: “It sends a bad message to Gabriel Jesus, who was on the pitch for at least an hour. After ten minutes, Nwaneri scored a goal. He is a promising young guy with a bright future, and I hope he gets more time to play.”
Jesus’ form has been inconsistent, and his inability to trouble Nottingham Forest’s defence underscores the need for improvement. While Arteta rested Kai Havertz to provide Jesus with a chance to prove himself, the Brazilian striker’s lack of impact could lead to reduced opportunities in future games. The emergence of Nwaneri as a viable attacking option only adds pressure on Jesus to step up his performances.
For Arsenal, having young talents like Nwaneri pushing established players is a positive sign. However, for Gabriel Jesus, it means he must urgently rediscover the form that made him such a valuable acquisition for the Gunners.
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I thought jesus had a very good game – his movement, close control and link up play were excellent and helped us play with fluency. We know he’s not a goalscorer at this point, but he helped the team today. If he keeps playing like that, I’m happy enough – might be good to try him in some different roles, though (and bring in a striker who is a goalscorer), as others have suggested.
I disagree completely.
Jesus is a No 9 – a striker. While he provides other things (like other players), his main task is to score goals. He’s got one goal since January 2024. That’s embarrassing frankly – not only for him, but for Arsenal. Is there another No. 9 in the EPL with anything like that abysmal record? Hardly.
If Jesus was doing his job Arsenal shouldn’t need to bring in a “striker who is a goal scorer” as you put it. That’s like saying Arsenal should bring in a defender who can defend. It’s plain daft.
Jesus other work you mention, “his movement, close control and link up play”, is the icing on the cake. What we should be seeing from Jesus, week in and week out (particularly for his £14m a year salary) is goals. The cake, in other words!
the number on Jesus’ back says it all
the fanfare when he arrived was him taking up his true position as striker, hence the number 9 on his back – now people may so ‘no’ but they are the ‘facts’ of the time, and when Jesus arrived 2 summers back he was instrumental in Arsenal’s transformation to title contenders (from 5th the season before)
few can argue that recently, and his serious knee injury i am sure a factor, Jesus goal output is not up to #9 standard for a club like Arsenal with genuine PL title ambition – but that does not take away from the fact Jesus is a striker, just not a good enough striker for Arsenal anymore
But if Jesus keep playing like this and Arsenal win, am fine with that, I remember when Haaland first join the champions though he was scoring the Citizens suddenly stop winning.
Sometimes one has to be careful on the next new shiny toy, a new striker doesn’t necessarily guarantee, goals or winning
“But if Jesus keep playing like this and Arsenal win, am fine with that…” Why? Why is a team place being taken up by someone who isn’t doing their primary job – not just poorly, but not at all. Would you have had the same attitude when Arsenal wasn’t winning? After all, goals from a functioning No 9 may have saved some of those dropped points.
Your argument about “shiny toys” doesn’t apply here because the current “toy” is broken on the evidence so far. As an earlier post suggested, Arsenal needs a striker who can score goals.
Your opinion is that his primary job is to score goals, but that’s subjective – imo his primary job is to make the team play well, save as everybody else. Everyone is responsible for scoring, creating and defending. That’s not to say we couldn’t do with a striker who’s better at finishing chances, but I won’t knock a player when they make the team play better.
Also, this is just one game – jesus has to keep playing well for this to matter at at (imo this is his first good performance in ages)
I would take a striker who never scores, but contributes to us winning every game over a striker who scores every game but does nothing else if that makes the team worse. Obviously that’s the most extreme situation, but I’m thinking of players like drogba (who in some seasons scored few goals but was still a monster) and the Liverpool striker who played with Salah and mane (name escapes me). It just depends on the makeup of the team. For those players, the cake was improving team performance, and the goals were the icing. You could make the same argument for players like bergkamp historically, although he played with striker partners.
Imo if a player plays well, it doesn’t matter how many goals they score so long as there’s enough goals in the team – yesterday there were enough goals in the team, in another game, there might not be and we’d be better with a different striker.
I agree with Bertie. Playing well means producing results. All fans will say that their team is playing well. The only result to show for it is titles and trophies. We can come up with alot of reasons to justify Jesus, and Arteta can show alot of patience for his signing, but the actual facts are that the Arsenal No 9’s goal return is currently lesser than Pepe’s for arsenal who was largely slammed as a flop and a 17yo Nwaneri has more goals than him despite fewer minutes.
What I think Arteta should aim at is to bring in someone like Guler and Isak and a left winger then he’ll be good to go for the January transfer window.
Let him dispose off Jesus and give the jersey to Isak
J̌esus has been slowly returning to life in all fairness, so too is Sterling, there is a lot of games to play and I will be hardly surprise when these too hit their purple patch.
“J̌esus has been slowly returning to life in all fairness…” With 4 EPL goals in 18 months now – and only one goal (vs Preston in the League Cup) since January – returning to life as what?
Bertie,
Having read your piece, I’ve clearly misjudged Jesus.
Looking at your stat’s I can now see what a prolific goal scorer Jesus is. 😂🤣
Nwaneri is a very good false 9: goal-minded. That’s where he can make the team even better than Jesus. He’s clearly not just a midfielder but an attacker with his goal scoring prowess.
Try him in the role of Havertz.
The acrobatics to justify Jesus not scoring goals is amazing.
1. He presses, interchanges, helps buildup, etc…. but rarely scores; nothing “striker” about him.
Kind of like
Zinchenko as a LB. He inverts well, helps with possession, gives us numerical advantage in midfield.
However can’t defend 1v1 to save his life. A fullback that can’t defend is a big negative to the team as we have previously seen.
Just like a striker that doesn’t score, it’s a net negative for the team.
Scoring does matter, stop the nonsense about Jesus and “other things he brings.”
Havertz stepped in, scored goals, added assists, and Jesus found himself benched and replaced; rightfully so.
The message should be to Arteta not Jesus.
Jesus should be learning Arabic by now . We have a nasty habit of not letting go of players at the right time and destroying their value. There is nothing more to expect from Jesus. I will go further than to say his salary and space in the team are a hindrance. Imagine a player like Mika Beireth; Chido Obi had that spot in the team. Even Havertz should at best be the second option. We need a stone-cold, lethal finisher who is a big game player. My fear is we have missed out on Gyokeres like we missed out on Kudus. Lastly, Sesko is not the answer.