The "resurrected" Gabriel Jesus should be Arsenal's first-choice centre-forward over the festive period after his pair of attacking masterclasses against Crystal Palace, according to Gunners expert Charles Watts.
The hitherto misfiring Brazilian has unexpectedly struck five goals in his last two appearances against the Eagles, firstly bagging a hat-trick in a 3-2 EFL Cup quarter-final win before a brace in Saturday's 5-1 Premier League London derby victory at Selhurst Park.
Prior to the cup treble, Jesus had not scored a single competitive goal at the Emirates in 2024, and he had to go all the way back to the end of January for his last Premier League goal before making the net bulge twice away from home.
Speaking to Sports Mole, Watts challenged Jesus to return to the level he showed before his severe knee injury at the 2022 World Cup, saying: "It's a headline writer's dream, isn't it? Jesus resurrected at Christmas.
"It's been a remarkable turnaround for him. The Palace Cup game, that second half hat-trick that he scored, the manner of the finishes that he produced, the first one was incredible. He scored literally one goal in 40 games, you go through one-on-one, and he's been so shy of confidence. To produce a finish like that off the cuff, it was an unbelievable finish. You could just see the weight lift off his shoulders.
"He was just a completely different player from the moment that goal went in. The way he took those final two finishes to complete the hat-trick as well, it was just so calm. Real conviction there which we haven't seen from him in a long, long time. It's just a mad game football, isn't it? It just shows even at the top level what confidence does and how it can completely transform a player.
"Arsenal have been waiting for so long for Jesus to find his scoring touch again. Like Mikel said afterwards, it's all about consistency now. It's all well and good doing it, for a couple of games, but it's about doing it over a period of months now. And Arsenal are going to need that over the second half of the season. If Jesus can get back to that player that we saw before the World Cup, before the injury.
Has "the real Jesus" returned for Arsenal?
"Mikel said he changed Arsenal's world, and he did. He was that good those first few months. I've very rarely seen a player make the sort of impression that he did in those few months, but that was just such a long time ago now. And it began to feel like that wasn't the norm for Jesus. That was the outlying period. And then what we've seen since was the real Jesus.
"But this has just been a period where we can all remember how good he was and what he can produce when he is on form. And hopefully for Arsenal's sake, he can continue to do that over the coming weeks. With Saka now out, Arsenal need players to step up and try and fill the void that he is going to leave. If Jesus can do that, possibly playing on the right wing, which he's done before, that's going to be hugely beneficial to Arsenal."
Jesus hit the ground running and then some upon his arrival at Arsenal from Manchester City in 2022, having a direct hand in 10 goals in his first 16 Premier League games for the club - five of his own and five assists - before picking up his knee injury in Qatar.
The 27-year-old still made a positive impact on his return, but after more knee-related complications, he lost his place up front to Kai Havertz last season and has been Arteta's second-choice striker for the best part of a year.
It was only a few weeks ago that Watts labelled Jesus "a real problem" amid claims that he could be lined up for a return to Brazil in 2025 - which Arteta quickly shot down - but the Arsenal expert can now see a striker who is "sniffing goals" and getting into the areas he should be in.
"I think you definitely need to see it over a long, more prolonged period than just two games," Watts added. "He's going to need to do it for the second half of the season now. I don't think it really changes the narrative ahead of January, because I'm just not sure Arsenal are going to be signing a striker in January, even if Jesus hadn't been scoring goals in the last week or so.
"What I really liked about the second Crystal Palace game, the two goals were great early on, and they were both quite instinctive finishes. But I really liked the fact that he was involved then in a couple of the other goals - very unlucky not to get the hat-trick with the header, which was a great header that came back off the post. He'll be disappointed with the one which led to Martinelli's goal when he should have scored - it was on his left foot, but he still should have scored that. But he was in the area you want your striker to be.
Should Jesus usurp Havertz as Arsenal's number one striker?
Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus pictured on December 21, 2024© Imago
"We've seen from Jesus a lot of times drifting out wide, and when balls come into the box, he's just nowhere to be seen. But in this instance, he's so confident, he's sniffing goals, smelling goals, he wants to be in that area to get on the end of the crosses that he did in those two moments as well. And that's big for Arsenal as well, that I think that he feels like now he wants to score goals, and he can score goals, and he's going to get in the area to finish it off."
Jesus was given the nod up top for the Palace EFL Cup game as Arteta rotated his resources, and he held his spot in the number nine role at Selhurst Park thanks to Declan Rice only making the bench, which saw Mikel Arteta deploy Havertz in the left eight midfield role.
Rice will no doubt return to the Arsenal XI when fully fit, which could spell trouble for Jesus if Havertz reverts to centre-forward duties, but the South American is also a viable option to start on the right wing during Bukayo Saka's two-month absence with a hamstring injury.
However, Watts wants to see more of Jesus in the centre-forward role while he is firing on all cylinders, adding: "I absolutely thought he had to start at Selhurst Park. I don't see how he can score a hat-trick and then be left out. That just wouldn't make any sense. I was sure he was going to start that game, and he did. I think he'll start against Ipswich. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more of Havertz and Jesus playing together now.
"They're going to have to find a way to make up for what they're going to be losing with Bukayo Saka. They're going to have to get creative. They're going to have to change the way they play. They can't just be the same and just bring a like-for-like player in for Saka. They're going to have to find other ways to make up for what they're missing and whether you can then get more of your goal threats on the pitch at the same time.
"There's definitely a bit of fear whenever Havertz gets pushed back into that midfield position of are we going to see what we saw when he first arrived? But he played there at Selhurst Park alongside Martin Odegaard, you had Jesus ahead of him, and it worked. They both scored and were both really heavily involved.
"It wouldn't surprise me if that's what we start seeing more now, trying to get as many goal threats as they can on the pitch at the same time, because they are going to have to make up for what they're missing with Saka being out."
"X-factor" attacker still needed despite Jesus form
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta pictured on December 21, 2024© Imago
Jesus's unforeseen revival may have also allowed the Arsenal hierarchy to breathe a sigh of relief, as the pressure on the board to sign another striker either in January or at the end of the season will reduce for as long as the ex-Man City man continues firing.
Targets such as Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak are virtually guaranteed to be unattainable in January, but even without one of the trio up top, Arsenal have still achieved a feat never before done in English football.
Saturday's slaughter of Palace saw the Gunners become the first-ever English top-flight side to score five or more goals in six away games in a single calendar year, but their toothless displays against Fulham and Everton suggests that another game-changing attacker is still needed.
"Arsenal can score goals. The records back it up, Mikel will point to it until the day he dies," Watts concluded. "But it's those games where you don't get an early goal, and the team you're playing against gets set in that low block - if you don't break them down after half an hour, the game starts getting edgier. There always seems to be patches in the season, maybe only two or three games, when they just don't score in any of them and they struggle to create as well.
"It seems to be a bit of a recurring theme in Arsenal's seasons. As much as Mikel will point to the goals tally and the records and all that, it's undeniable that there's always a little period where they do struggle. And I suppose that's understandable because it's all sort of peaks and troughs.
"But I still think there's something to be resolved there for Arsenal. There is still definitely room for that X factor player who in those tight games can change things. I do think Arsenal are aware of that as well, whether that's something they'll fix in January, I'm still not sure. I still think it's probably more likely this summer, but we shall wait and see on that."
Jesus is expected to make his second straight Premier League start when Arsenal host Ipswich Town in Friday's clash, which the Gunners may enter sitting fourth in the Premier League table if Nottingham Forest beat their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day.
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