Mikel Arteta says Gabriel Jesus cares if he doesn’t score in a match, insisting he gets bothered if he fails to hit the back of the net.
Jesus, 25, was one of Arsenal’s summer signings from Manchester City and started the season in fine form, netting two goals and assisting four times in his opening five Premier League matches.
However, the Brazil international has now gone eight games without scoring a goal and although Arteta claimed it bothers him, he has every confidence the striker will start finding the net soon.
When asked if not scoring bothers Jesus, Arteta said to BT Sport: “It does bother him for sure.
“Knowing him, when he scores three goals, he wants to score four.
“Today he had a couple of good chances as well, but what he generates to the team is just amazing.
“Last week he gave three assists. Today he was involved in every action again and the goals will come.”
Arsenal successfully finished at the top of their Europa League group after beating FC Zurich 1-0, meaning they avoid playing in the knockout round in February.
The north London side have now won all nine of their home games in all competitions this season and Arteta says the focus of the team is to win every match.
He added: “We have all the teams and fixtures in our minds to try and get a competitive team all the time and win the games which is the most important thing.
“Today was really important, we know how important it is especially with teams playing in February and winning helps winning.
“Today’s atmosphere in the dressing room is much better after a win than after a loss and that’s the focus of the team.”
There was concern for Arteta during the match after substitute Takehiro Tomiyasu limped off less than 15 minutes after he was introduced in the game.
The Japan international came on for Ben White in the second half of the match but was replaced by Cedric with less than two minutes of normal time to go.
Speaking in his press conference, Arteta said he was still unsure of the prognosis but claimed Tomiyasu felt something, leading to the substitution.
“We don’t know (what happened to Tomiyasu),” Arteta said.
“He felt something and we didn’t want to take any risk. But with the amount of games that we are playing, it’s part of what happens. It can happen in training, it can happen in games and unfortunately it happened to Tomi today and the rest of the players have to be ready because we are going to need everyone now.”
Arsenal play Chelsea away in the Premier League on Sunday.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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