Should we be worried about Gabriel Jesus’s lack of goals?
By Vivek Julka
Firstly, Gabriel Jesus has been a great signing for Arsenal since arriving in the summer. He has added a different energy to the team and has come with a winning mentality as he won many trophies at Man City. Jesus is one of the main reasons we are top the league.
However, his goals have dried up over the past month and has not scored since the first of October against Spurs. That means he has not scored in our past eight games. I am concerned as we do need more goals from him if we really want to challenge for the league. We are getting away with it now as other players are stepping up for goals such as Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and most recently Reiss Nelson, which is great, but more goals are needed from our number nine.
I am not discrediting Jesus’ overall play as that has been brilliant. He works very hard for the team to create chances which is reflected in his five assists in the league which is only bettered by Kevin De Bruyne. He still is contributing to the team, but does need to improve his finishing as he is a bit wasteful in games such as the Southampton and Nottingham Forest games.
A goal from him in games such as the Southampton one where we come a bit unstuck will be vital to challenging for the league as we can’t afford to drop those points when Man City are right on our backs.
Jesus has never been a prolific goal scorer, even when he was at Man City, the most league goals in a season he managed was fourteen which is no better than Alexendre Lacazette’s tally. And some Arsenal fans slated Lacazette’s output while he worked hard for the team.
If we are serious about challenging for the league, we need to invest in a true number nine who will score goals regularly to weaken the burden for Jesus. Ivan Toney would be a good option as he has scored eight goals for Brentford this season, who are a mid-table team. He had a good first season and is improving his output this season.
We will be top two in the league come the World Cup, but we do need to buy a clinical striker in January to maintain our push for the Premier League.
Vivek Julka
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