Gabriel Jesus can be Arsenal’s Roberto Firmino as goal drought continues but supporting cast must step up

Mikel Arteta could hardly have asked for much more from Arsenal's emphatic victory over Nottingham Forest.

His side scored five goals and conceded none as they secured the three points which moved them back to the top of the Premier League.

After a dismal 2-0 defeat against PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League last Thursday, this win was just what Arsenal needed with the World Cup break just around the corner.

"Big teams have to respond as quick as possible and we did that after the disappointment of Thursday night," said Arteta.

"You don't have time, you go here Friday evening. One half training session and be ready not only physically but mentally again to another demand against a team that beat Liverpool. The pressure is on, and we need to get used to that."

The only thing seemingly missing from Arsenal's victory was a goal for Gabriel Jesus, who has now failed to score in his last seven games.

Gabriel Jesus keeps racking up assists but has not scored in his last seven Arsenal appearances
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

As the goals flew in during the second half, Arteta began to bring off his key players, but tellingly Jesus played the full 90 minutes despite being a yellow card away from suspension.

Clearly Arteta and Jesus were desperate for the Brazilian to end his drought and he had plenty of chances to do so, wasting a one-on-one with Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson and also somehow failing to turn the ball home at the back post when the goal was gaping.

In the end, others stepped up to the plate. Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring after five minutes and then after the break Reiss Nelson struck twice, before Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard competed the rout.

Jesus created two of the goals and had a hand in Nelson's first, which the substitute scored after having his initial effort saved by Henderson.

The performance was in many ways typical of Jesus's time in England. He has never been an out-and-out goalscorer, but his overall contribution to the team cannot be overlooked. Since the start of last season, only Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah have more Premier League assists.

Jesus can do something similar to Firmino at Arsenal, but it will require Martinelli and Saka to become lethal finishers

It all begs the question whether Jesus should be judged on his number of goals and if his drought is really cause for concern?

His number of goals will naturally be scrutinised, simply because he leads the line and elected to wear the No9 shirt this summer when he joined from Manchester City for £45million. Jesus has also boldly spoken about his need and desire to score more goals, but it could be that his role in Arteta's team is to be a creator.

For that to work, however, Arsenal's support cast need to step up. It is no surprise Arsenal's goals have dried up recently. Martinelli, who was flying at the start of the season, had gone five games without scoring until yesterday.

Bukayo Saka limping off yesterday after half an hour would have raised alarm bells about a lack of firepower too, but his replacement Nelson surprisingly shone with two goals.

"We've been creating chances and we haven't been hitting the target enough," said Arteta. "We have discussed that the whole week and today the individual talent made the difference. They scored some fantastic goals and they shared the goals which is important."

There are success stories elsewhere Arsenal can look at which prove having a creative No9 can be productive. Roberto Firmino has been incredibly effective in that role for Liverpool, with Sadio Mane and Salah weighing in with the majority of goals.

It looks like Jesus can do something similar at Arsenal, but it will require the likes of Martinelli and Saka to become lethal finishers.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT