After the international break, many will be keen to see who will lead Arsenal’s attack; Eddie Nketiah or Gabriel Jesus. According to Kevin Campbell, Arteta should rely more on Gabriel Jesus if he wants to deny Manchester City a fourth consecutive Premier League title.
The ex-Arsenal star admitted he was sad the 26-year-old wasn’t available at the start of the season due to injury, but he’s now back fit, which is fantastic, since the Brazilian can impact a game out of nowhere. Yes, there are doubts about him being the man to lead Arsenal to glory.
Campbell wonders why the Brazilian is underrated when he’s proven he can deliver, considering even after missing three months of football (due to an injury he sustained while playing for Brazil at the Qatar World Cup), he still ended up scoring 11 goals, which could have been more if he hadn’t missed all those games last season.
“I think we’re going to have to lean on Jesus a bit more this season,” Campbell told Highbury Squad Podcast. “I’m not happy that he had this injury early. But if that means we can have him fully fit for the rest of the season, I’ll take it.
“You could see what he can do. He’s such a great player, and he makes other players better. He can drop a shoulder and change a game, and if he can keep scoring goals, He got double figures last season, and he was out for three months!
“If he can get five, ten goals in those three months, in comparison, he’s probably be near 18, 20 goals. That’s what we need. We need somebody who’s going to be top goalscorer as our main guy if we’re going to usurp Man City. He’s got that unknown factor he can produce.”
After hearing Campbell’s backing for Jesus, I’m left wondering if Eddie Nketiah has yet to demonstrate he has what it takes to lead the Arsenal attack. While Jesus was out injured in the first two games and while in the last two games, he was still yet to regain his match fitness, Eddie Nketiah spearheaded the Arsenal attack.
Eddie has had a strong start to the season, scoring twice in three starts and making one substitute appearance. He’s received his first senior England call-up, and everything seems to point to this being his year, with a chance to make England’s Euro 24 squad on the line.
Will Arteta hold onto Nketiah leading his attack after the international break, or will he bring back Jesus to lead his attack? I think that we’ll have to wait and see…
Sam P
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Jesus looked really sharp when he came on -it surprised me a bit -maybe because I expected a lack of match fitness or something’ A fit and firing Jesus will easily start ahead of Nketiah -he adds a concoction of traits -one being he makes players around him play better as they all look to link up with each other which leads to more action in and around the box
The truth is Jesus and Nketiah are not on par. They are different, and their individual output is also different, but that doesn’t make Nketiah a substandard striker. Chances of Jesus hitting 20 league goals in a season are much higher than Eddie’s. It’s not an impossible feat, but a difficult one none the less.
Yes Jesus can land Arsenal the big mug, the Brazilian is a bit like the legendary Frenchman Theiry Henry
He’s not a poacher, he doesn’t sit and wait in and around the box, he likes to come from the wings cutting in with a bag of tricks.
With adequate venom from both feet, he has certainly looked lively on his return, an in form Jesus will take Arsenal real close.