Mikel Arteta praised Gabriel Jesus, whom he claimed “changed the world for Arsenal last season”
After recovering from a string of injuries, Gunners manager Arteta could start the Brazil striker for the first time this season on Sunday against Everton.
Jesus has made two Premier League substitute appearances this season, scoring his most recent goal on September 3 against Manchester United.
However, Arteta insists that the former Manchester City forward’s game involves more than scoring goals.
Arteta, whose team finished second in the Premier League in 2022-23, proclaimed, “He is a tremendous player.”
“A truly crucial player for us. He transformed our world during the previous season. Everyone could see that. He will be an extremely vital player for us.
“I believe he gave his opponents a different energy, a different belief, a different threat, and a different fear.
“And he did it in a very natural way, and I believe he was a major contributor to the leap we made last season.
“He tracks a lot of attention and players in the way he plays and creates space for others and that’s a big quality.
“When you sign a player you know, who has done it in the league and he’s got the hunger to join us for the right reasons – it was a no-brainer for us to do it and we could see the impact he had straight away in the team.”
In their last five visits to Goodison Park, Arsenal have scored just twice and have not won since 2017.
Arteta, a former Everton player, praised Sean Dyche’s squad and outlined the standards his players must meet to earn three points.
“For me Everton’s quality is not physicality, it’s what they do and they play really well and Sean (Dyche) does well at doing that,” Arteta added.
“Just talking about physicality doesn’t reflect the qualities they have, the reasons they do it, the intentions they have, how they build sequences and momentum in matches. There’s a lot of work there so it is much deeper
Mikel Arteta praised Gabriel Jesus, whom he claimed “changed the world for Arsenal last season”
