Gabriel Jesus has had a fantastic first year at Arsenal, and he appears to have already assumed a leadership position at the team.
As Arsenal defeated Brentford 3-0 to maintain their lead over Brentford in the Premier League going into the international break, Gabriel Jesus continued his impressive run of play. The 25-year-old made an impression as he effectively led the line for Mikel Arteta’s team and scored his fourth goal of the season.
Although the striker’s goal-related contributions have been crucial to the Gunners’ success this season, it appears that he has also assumed a significant role in other areas of the team. Jesus has evolved into a symbolic leader who has been given authority over the north London press.
The Brazilian international has been spotted initiating and leading Arsenal’s press since joining the club this summer after leaving Manchester City in a £45 million transfer. He signed a five-year contract at the Emirates Stadium. And Jesus continued to demonstrate that he is more than just a goal scorer in the Gunners’ match against Brentford.
The Brazilian led Arsenal’s opening press of the second half, as fans on Reddit noticed. When the referee blew his whistle, Jesus deftly chased down the ball and signaled to his colleagues Fabio Vieira and Bukayo Saka to do the same, blocking the Bees’ path through the thirds.
Brentford was forced to play backwards as a result of Jesus’ pressure, which led to David Raya, the goalkeeper, resuming an attack from inside his own six-yard box. After doing so against Sevilla in preseason, Arteta has already praised the striker’s ‘phenomenal’ ability to lead the line.
The Spaniard stated in his post-game news conference that “what [people] are seeing] is that everybody, not just Gabby, plays at that intensity and that willingness to win the ball, to promote mistakes, and to play in the opponent’s half as much as possible.” “You cannot do that if players at the front are walking, they are not tracking, they don’t have that instinct and that intention to provoke things that we want and Gabby is phenomenal at that.”
Arteta said, speaking of what Jesus offers to the group, “His versatility is well recognized. Now that he can play as a winger off the left and the right, we are employing him as a nine. You can alter the shape slightly by playing with two strikes, as we did in the preseason. He offers us a great deal of leeway.
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