Gabriel Jesus provides an early indication of how he will make Arsenal a better team

Arsenal began their pre-season fixture schedule with a 5-3 win against FC Nurnberg on Friday, and despite the scoreline, the most exciting aspect of the afternoon for Gunners’ supporters was the second-half brace scored by new signing Gabriel Jesus.

It was the Brazilian’s first appearance in the red and white of his new employers, and the near-on instant impact he had in helping to overturn a 2-0 half-time deficit has understandably whet the appetite for what Jesus can achieve in North London in the upcoming season and beyond.

Following the January departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta was left short of both quality and options in attack at the end of last season as his side agonisingly missed out on a Champions League qualification spot to their eternal rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The expiration of Alexandre Lacazette’s contract at the end of June only further increased the need for a new forward at the Emirates Stadium, and with Jesus in search of a new challenge after a successful if not entirely satisfying five-and-a-half years at Manchester City, a reunion with former City assistant Arteta seemed an ideal solution for all involved.

However, there has been a fair degree of debate over whether or not the 25-year-old is capable of leading the line for a team looking to return to the top table of European football.

In an interview with Sky Sports, South American football expert Tim Vickery pinpointed how Jesus’ inability to score for Brazil in five appearances at the 2018 World Cup in Russia lead to him asking national team manager Tite to be used as a wide player going forward rather than as an out-and-out centre-forward.

Although his highest-scoring Premier League season followed not long after in 2019/20, and competition for a starting role up front in Manchester was decreased when Sergio Aguero left City in the summer of 2021, Jesus’ game time was still limited by the regularity with which Pep Guardiola used a midfielder as his central attacking force.

Of his 28 Premier League appearances last season, Jesus only started 10 as a central striker.

His tally of eight goals therefore possibly deserves greater credit than it has received, yet his inability to establish himself as Guardiola’s go-to striker surely contributed to the Premier League Champion’s desire to sign Erling Haaland, and only adds doubt to the idea that Jesus will be the goal-scorer that helps Arsenal re-establish themselves at the pinnacle of English football.

According to FBref, Jesus underperformed his individual expected goals total in all but one of his five full seasons at the Etihad Stadium, and the number of goals per shot he was averaging dropped to 0.11 last season – slightly lower than the 0.18 averaged by Arsenal’s first-choice striker at the end of the season, Eddie Nketiah.

In comparison, Tottenham’s Harry Kane has only underperformed against his individual xG tally in one of the previous five Premier League campaigns, and Aguero’s goals per shot number never dropped below 0.17 in the four full seasons he played alongside Jesus.

Jesus is by no means incapable of scoring goals in the Premier League though.

His most prolific campaign for City saw him score 14 goals despite starting only 21 matches, his overall tally for the club of 95 was racked up from a total of 151 starts, and his neat finish in Nuremberg on Friday afternoon doubled his tally for the afternoon and wrapped up the win for his new team displayed the movement, anticipation, and execution of a forward who knows how to find the back of the net.

It was his first goal of the afternoon, arriving barely a minute after the Brazilian had been introduced as a half-time substitute with his new team-mates two goals down against the 2.Bundesliga side that displayed a wider range of Jesus’ useful attacking qualities though.

First, Jesus closed down an opposition defender as he looked to control a ball dropping out of the sky. Praising Jesus for forcing centre-back Asger Sorenson into the heavy touch he then took would be giving him too much credit, but the subsequent determined dribble after securing possession, intelligent pass inside to Nketiah, and accurate finish after continuing his run more than exemplified the well-rounded nature of the Brazilian’s talent.

Even though this snapshot of Jesus’ quality was capped by the ball finding the net, his ability to impact matches is not restricted to goal-scoring alone.

His work rate off the ball can hardly be questioned, with his 239 defensive pressures in the final third across the 2019/20 Premier League season – his most impactful in Manchester – second only to Kevin de Bruyne’s 253 among his former City team-mates, and 18th overall among forwards in the league – an achievement made even more impressive by the fact that Guardiola’s side averaged almost 67% control of possession across the season.

Jesus’ ability to create opportunities for others is another quality that should help Arsenal improve next season.

Last season, he averaged 3.74 shot-creating actions per 90 – the 11th highest total of any Premier League forward player – and also registered the second-highest number of goal-creating actions per 90 with 0.86, just behind Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski.

The way in which Jesus picked out Nketiah in the build-up to the new signing’s first goal in Arsenal colours was quite possibly a snapshot of his attacking vision in such situations, a facet of the Palmeiras academy graduate’s game that Arteta will be hoping can enhance the effectiveness of the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka.

For some, the success of the £45million signing will be determined by whether or not he can hit the 15-goal mark in the English top-flight for the first time and bring Champions League football back to the Emirates.

But the fact only eight players scored 15 or more goals in the Premier League last season should be enough to indicate that the success of an individual cannot be determined by their goal tally alone, and given the array of impressive elements present within Jesus’ game, some of which he has already displayed in an Arsenal shirt, it would be wise to assess the influence he is having in other areas of the pitch before passing judgement.

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