Gabriel Jesus has been named in WhoScored’s Champions League Team of the Week for the most recent round of fixtures, following his brace against Inter Milan.
Gabriel Jesus has generally had a positive impact since returning from injury with Arsenal, but the criticism regularly levelled at him is that he doesn’t score enough goals.
In his first 11 appearances back in the team, Jesus scored one excellent finish against Aston Villa and provided an impressive assist against Portsmouth in the FA Cup. But other than that, he struggled to get involved in Arsenal’s goalscoring.
That changed on Tuesday, as the 28-year-old provided a couple of poacher’s finishes to give Arsenal the lead twice away to Inter Milan.
The first goal was an instinctive effort, with Jesus pouncing on a miskick by Jurrien Timber to divert it into the net for 1-0.
The second was a case of being in the right place at the right time, as Jesus headed in from the goalline for 2-1 after Leandro Trossard nodded Bukayo Saka’s corner back across the face of goal.
Neither finish will be winning any ‘Goal of the Season’ competitions, but they were exactly the kind of goals Arsenal need from Jesus. Clinical finishes against strong opposition to put the team into the lead.
Considering the two goals came from Jesus’ only two shots of the match, on top of his 88% pass success rate and two chances created, it’s perhaps no surprise that WhoScored’s algorithm gave the striker an 8.41 rating and a spot in their Champions League Team of the Week.
The midweek fixture hopefully provided a confidence boost, not just to Jesus but to alternative centre-forward Viktor Gyokeres, given he scored an excellent goal as well.
Arsenal need the pair to carry that same form back into the Premier League for a tricky weekend fixture against Manchester United on Sunday.