Ian Wright was delighted with Gabriel Jesus’ return to Arsenal colours against Fulham on Sunday following a lengthy spell on the sidelines, as he told Premier League Productions (12/03/23 at 4:10 pm).
The Arsenal legend added that Jesus’ brings ‘so much’ to the team and the 25-year-old’s return to the bench has provided ‘massive confidence’ to his teammates.
It was nearly the perfect return for Arsenal’s summer signing, who came off the bench for around 15 or so minutes as Mikel Arteta’s men eased past Fulham 3-0.
The Brazil international, who had been injured since the 2022 Qatar World Cup, had an ample chance to score, but his shot was smothered by Bernd Leno in between the sticks.
Either way, the lead at the top for Arsenal to second-placed Manchester City is five points, and all in good time because the bench is now much stronger with Jesus on it.
That was touched upon by Wright before the game, as well as sharing his thoughts on the former Man City man’s performance from the bench.
“It’s a massive boost (Jesus’ return),” said Wright. “The team is still in contention. Everyone was talking about ‘what happens if Jesus gets injured?’ And now he is back.
“It’s given the team a massive amount of confidence knowing he is on the bench – it’s the assists as well, he brings so much to the team. Everyone is delighted that he is back.”
On Jesus’ cameo from the bench: “I was delighted that he was back. I was hoping he could have just stayed on his feet a little bit. When this was coming across to his left foot. There is so much goal over there. Once he plays it now, then bam put it around him.
“Put it onto your left foot and curl it into the left corner. I thought he was going to do that. We were all desperate for him to return because it does make a massive difference when you have been on the treatment table for that long, you come off the bench and score. It gives you that feeling again. I was hoping he would have got that.”
JESUS TO BE EASED IN
If Arsenal can continue to win and stay in the Europa League, then it will allow Arteta to ease Jesus back into action and get minutes under his belt.
With Leandro Trossard smoking it up top since his transfer in January, it could be argued that, as of this moment, even if Jesus can start, he wouldn’t do so.
That’s a massive plus to the team because the bench is looking seriously strong, especially if you include the likes of Jorginho, Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith Rowe.
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