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Steve Nicol has not held back in his criticism of Gabriel Jesus after Arsenal were beaten at Villa Park by Aston Villa on Saturday.
Nicol was speaking on ESPN after a first-half goal from John McGinn gave the Villans the three points, as Mikel Arteta’s side missed the chance to go back to the top of the Premier League table.
Arsenal will be happy with their performance. Ultimately however, they were just unable to get the ball into the back of the net. And in truth, they will probably be disappointed with how often Emi Martinez was genuinely tested.
Steve Nicol slams Gabriel Jesus after Arsenal defeat
Gabriel Jesus was outstanding in the win over Luton in midweek. He scored one, and was involved in two of the other goals as Arsenal edged a seven-goal thriller.
However, the Brazilian endured a much quieter evening at Villa Park. In fact, Steve Nicol apparently had to remind himself at times that the 26-year-old was even on the pitch.
“I’ll tell you what, they need a centre forward. I remembered sitting thinking where’s Jesus? And I’m talking about an Arsenal side who I thought were dominating, particularly in the second-half,” he told ESPN.
“It was all about defence for Villa. But we never saw Jesus. You can’t win the Premier League title with a man down, let’s put it that way. Because Jesus did absolutely nothing to help his team. And when you’ve got to break down a tight defence that’s on top of their game, you’ve got to produce. And he, never mind he didn’t produce, he just disappeared.”
Gunners need more from almost all of their attacking players
Jesus usually does bring so much to the Arsenal side. He is one of those players that the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli love to play alongside because he uses the space so well.
But you cannot defend his record in the league this season. He now has just two goals in 11 games in the top-flight. That is surely not going to be a good enough rate if Mikel Arteta’s side are going to win the league this term.
Certainly, Arsenal needed him to step up when you consider that neither Martinelli or Martin Odegaard have been as prolific so far this season.
Ultimately, Jesus is a player with world-class quality. And there is no question that he has been a game-changing signing for the club.
But you can understand why some are questioning whether Jesus has the goals in him to fire Arsenal to the title.
