Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has now started talking about another subject that tends to split opinion around Mikel Arteta’s side – the team’s growing obsession with set-pieces.
The forward has spent a day with Brazilian press discussing almost everything around his career. This time, the topic was Arsenal’s football itself, in the same week they lifted the Premier League trophy after 22 years.
And his answer sounded exactly like someone caught between two worlds: a Brazilian shaped by São Paulo street football culture and a player who has spent almost a decade learning how ruthless modern Premier League football can be.
“It bothers me a little”
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, Gabriel Jesus admitted that Arsenal’s heavy use of set-pieces is not naturally the kind of football he grew up loving.
“Being very honest, as a Brazilian… I wasn’t really developed in Palmeiras’ academy. I spent one year and a half there in the youth setup and pre-professional football. I was raised in the ‘várzea’.”
That ‘várzea’ concept is difficult to translate directly into English. It is closer to a mix of grassroots, street and amateur Sunday league football culture – improvised pitches, instinctive play and chaotic creativity.
So yes, part of Gabriel Jesus still reacts instinctively when games become too dependent on dead-ball situations.
“For a young Brazilian guy raised in that environment, obviously this thing about being more set-pieces in one game or another bothers me a little bit.”
That is probably one of the most human and honest descriptions an Arsenal player has given about the team’s stylistic evolution under Arteta.
Then comes the Premier League reality
The interesting part is that Gabriel Jesus did not criticise it for long. Almost immediately, he shifted into acceptance.
“But it’s part of football. When you have many ways to win a game, you have to use them.”
The club have spent the last two seasons turning details into weapons. Set-pieces are now a core part of the identity.
Gabriel Jesus also pushed back against the idea that Arsenal only score from those situations.
“It’s not that we only score from set-pieces. We do score many goals from set-pieces, but not all of them,” he explained.
“We have a weapon there. That’s the difference. That’s the differential. Other teams can’t really have that.”
“Not as much as us”
He also pointed to the broader Premier League landscape.
“Both attacking and defending, because the Premier League is very physical and teams use set-pieces a lot.”
Then he brought Liverpool into the conversation.
“If I’m not mistaken, last year when Liverpool won the title, they also scored many goals from set-pieces. Obviously not as much as us, but they did too.”
Gabriel Jesus knows Arsenal have become one of the league’s most extreme examples of set-piece efficiency. And honestly, he sounded slightly amused by it himself.
But at the end, he almost laughed at his own contradiction.
“However, deep down, I’m Brazilian, raised in São Paulo’s ‘várzea’. So you already know how I feel…”
And that probably explains everything. He is still a player shaped by improvised pitches and São Paulo street football rather than choreographed routines and rehearsed corner sequences.
But after years at Manchester City and Arsenal, Gabriel Jesus also understands another reality: teams do not win Premier League titles through aesthetics alone.
Sometimes they win because they can score from corners better than everyone else. Even if the Brazilian inside him still finds it “a little annoying” sometimes.