Martin Keown thinks Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta needs to replace Gabriel Jesus as the Gunners need a “different tool in the box”.
Arsenal beat Monaco 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night with Bukayo Saka scoring a brace and Kai Havertz adding another for Arteta’s side.
That result puts them third in the Champions League group stage table, behind Liverpool and Barcelona, while they are also third in the Premier League after drawing against Fulham over the weekend.
Jesus missed a couple of chances before being subbed off on 73 minutes for Havertz and Keown thinks the Brazilian’s performance showed why Arsenal are still short of a “prolific goalscorer”.
Keown said on TNT Sports: “We talk about Havertz and Jesus – they need to score more goals and be more ruthless. There is no doubt about it.
“I think they could do with that different tool in the box, that player who can find an opportunity out of nothing.
“Jesus has come with a lot of experience, he has bought a lot to the group, but he wants his goals on the pitch.
“He has played his part but Arsenal need that prolific goalscorer to put these opportunities away.”
On the Gunners’ performance overall against French side Monaco, Keown commented: “It was a professional performance. There was a little drop but the manager reacted really well to that and made the subs.
“Really important win tonight for the momentum. Bukayo Saka is on the end of everything, he’s so important. He’s a seasoned professional already.”
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Arsenal boss Arteta thought his side should have been out of sight in the first half with two of their three goals against Monaco coming after the half-time break.
Arteta told a post-match press conference: “Yeah, we should have obviously scored four or five in the first half. This wasn’t the case and this is the Champions League.
“The level of opposition is really high. The way they play, they create quite a chaos, because there are so many players inside and the moment that you are not very well organised or neat in possession, the first two, three passes, you’re gonna struggle against them, but we will work on that situation.
“We scored the second one, after the game was in our control. I think the subs helped us as well in the right moments, so overall very positive.”
When asked whether Arsenal are now an established Champions League team again, Arteta added: “I think we are enjoying our run, we keep learning. Today’s a lot of learnings to take from this game, from the experience, learning from the team and obviously we need much more.
“We need to go through certain moments, and I’m sure we will in the near future, but the fact that we can compete against any team that’s a positive thing to take, but understand how difficult it is to do it consistently in this competition.”