Every single person involved with Arsenal football club continues to linger around the return date of Gabriel Jesus. The importance of the striker is simply so great that just knowing when we might catch a glimpse of him getting close to a return takes over nearly every pre-match press conference and has for the past couple of months.
Jesus spoke with UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov in mid-to-late January and suggested he might be back in an Arsenal shirt in ‘four or five weeks’ although with five weeks approaching this Sunday and no word on his return, that appears inaccurate. However, Mikel Arteta did confirm he’s now training outside and doing ball work, so it may not be too far off.
"Doing really well," Arteta said when asked how Jesus is doing. "He’s on the pitch, he’s been doing quite a lot of work on the ball already and so far his rehab is going well."
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Some estimations had Jesus returning in early March and this would coincide with the return of European football for Arsenal. Having topped their Europa League group, Arsenal progressed straight through to the last 16, a round they have never been eliminated from in their past three visits in the modern iteration of the tournament.
The away leg is due to take place on Thursday, March 13 with the home leg the following week on Thursday, March 20. There is hope that Jesus could be back and Mikel Arteta might use the Europa League to ease Jesus back into top-level action and up his minutes before throwing him into the Premier League.
Arsenal have a period of seven games in just 23 days. Eddie Nketiah, who has started and completed every Premier League game since the World Cup in Jesus’ stead, has appeared rather tired toward the end of matches.
The return of Jesus will allow the ability to share the load but with so much emphasis on the Premier League title race the dynamic up top that Arteta will have to oversee is fascinating. Prior to these past few games, Nketiah had won over the fans with his goals against West Ham, Brighton and Manchester United.
However, having not scored in the past five games the pressure has increased and the yearning for Jesus to return has grown. When the former Man City man does return, he might find himself fully prepared and ready for the title clash with his old club in April much thanks to the Europa League preparation, with the Gunners set to discover who their European opponents will be on Friday.
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