Mikel Arteta has backed Gabriel Jesus to get back among the goals for Arsenal after firing another blank against Southampton.
The Gunners were hoping to rack up yet another Premier League win this afternoon and made a great start with Granit Xhaka opening the scoring.
Arsenal just couldn’t find a second goal and can feel aggrieved by some strange refereeing decisions throughout the game.
That won’t help now though as Stuart Armstrong’s goal secured a point for the Saints, leaving Arsenal to go home with a point.
Mikel Arteta has backed Gabriel Jesus
This was another frustrating afternoon for Jesus.
The Brazilian hitman made a great start to the season but the goals have dried up of late.
An early shot on target was ruled offside and when it looked like Jesus would finally score, Gavin Bazunu made a great save.
Dispossessed three times and unable to pull the trigger when played clean through on goal, it just wasn’t his day.
That’s now five games without a goal in all competitions for Jesus.
His last goal came against Tottenham on October 1st but he hasn’t been able to add to his account since then.
The 25-year-old is maybe just lacking a little confidence now and boss Arteta has backed him to recover.
Speaking to Football London, Arteta suggested that Jesus will be ‘disappointed’ to have not found the net when given the chance.
Arteta believes that Jesus can score at any time and is giving so much to the team as a whole, so he isn’t too worried right now.
“I’m sure today he will be disappointed because he had the chances to put them away,” said Arteta. “Knowing Gabi, he’s disappointed when he scores two goals and could have scored three or four, so he can do that.”
“But he has the chances, and he’s always there. He gives so much to the team, and it’s a shame he couldn’t put them away today,” he added.
Jesus will be back among the goals soon enough, especially with the ammunition from Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal fans will generally be delighted with their £190,000-a-week striker, and will be confident that the goals will flow again soon enough.
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