Does Jesus come straight back into the side?
Arsenal have been without Gabriel Jesus for almost a month now after picking up a knock ahead of the big game against Liverpool. He’s been suffering with a “minor” knee injury since playing against Nottingham Forest in late January and has been missing since.
Arteta gave a vague timeframe of when he is expected to be back, but it was speculated could be against Porto in The Champions League this week but it seems he has not travelled with the squad. Arsenal have been lighting the Premier League on fire the past few weeks and sit on a 5-game winning streak, scoring 11 goals in their last two matches and have looked at their best but with Jesus maybe being able to play soon, it does lead to the question whether he should come straight back into the starting eleven if he is fit and able to play.
Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is an incredible footballer and has done a lot for us since joining from Manchester City but with all the injury issues, it has become some what of a routine that he will be missing for bits of the season. Spending a lot of time last year at the start of the season out injured and now being out for almost a month does affect how he would play and how the rest of the team will also.
Since he’s been out, Arsenal have played a lot of different tactics and worked around his absence and have playing some of the best football I’ve seen in a long time. I’m not saying that Areta shouldn’t trust him to play and put on a performance because Jesus is an experienced player who would make any team better but considering his injury history and how long he’s been out I do wonder if the game against Porto, would be the right game for him to return.
Trossard and Havertz have both stepped into the centre forward role while he’s been away and have both put in very good performances and have looked to have gelled with their teammates and the squad are scoring for fun at the moment.
With a lot of important games to come including our game against Porto, I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk and hey you could disagree, but I think we have looked pretty solid without him recently. While I’ve said a lot in the past about looking into a striker in the summer, it seems like Arteta has been able to find a solution in house and it’s clearly working. Saka, Trossard, Havertz and Martinelli have look formidable in attack and have been linking up really well and while were on such a good streak, I’m not sure if we should stop the momentum they have built over the past few weeks.
Who knows if he’s ever ready to play and we might just have to wait and see as Arteta is always vague when it comes to injuries, but what should Arteta do when he does return….
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