Gabriel Jesus believes he’s more than ready to help Arsenal to win matches, after making his long-awaited comeback from injury on Wednesday night.
Gabriel Jesus made his first competitive appearance for Arsenal in almost 11 months on Wednesday night, coming off the bench as a substitute against Club Brugge.
The striker had spent a long time sidelined with an ACL injury, and it would have been understandable if he took a while to settle back in.
But Jesus immediately had an impact on the pitch, taking three shots and creating one chance in his 28 minutes on the pitch and only being denied a goal by the width of the crossbar.
Speaking afterwards, Jesus admitted he was hoping for a goal. But despite not scoring, he still took a lot of encouragement from how he felt on the pitch.
“Everyone was expecting me to score, and obviously, I wanted to score,” Jesus admitted. “I had some opportunities, but even with that, I’m so happy and so pleased, because to come back and then to have some touches that I had tonight, and then the way I could move, the way I could keep the ball.
“With 11 months of helping myself and then feeling scared to come back different, with some limitations, just to walk outside and then play with the boys, I’m so pleased.”
With another injury comeback milestone out of the way, the focus for Jesus turns to performing regularly and getting results for Arsenal. When asked if he’s up for the task, the 28-year-old’s answer was emphatic.
“More than ready,” Jesus insisted. “If I come back early and strong, it’s because of obviously first God, and then the people around me who helped me a lot.”
With Jesus playing alongside Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli in the final minutes, there was almost a nostalgic element to Arsenal’s performance. Certainly the attacking rotations were reminiscent of the team at its best during the early days of Jesus’ Gunners spell.
After so long without any attacking options, forced to rely solely on Mikel Merino playing (largely very well) out of position, Mikel Arteta is finally starting to have some options up front. The team should be well placed to reap the rewards in the coming weeks.