Gabriel Jesus has been labelled a “special player” after marking his first Arsenal start in the Premier League since the World Cup with two goals. The former Manchester City star was the driving force behind the Gunners’ initial climb to the league’s summit but an injury picked up with Brazil at the World Cup in Qatar kept him out of the side for four months.
However, even before he was eased back with a series of substitute roles he was still helping Arsenal maintain their position ahead of Jesus’s former club Manchester City. “When you are injured it does not mean that you don’t have anything to do with the team any more,” Granit Xhaka said.
“It was the same with myself as well when I had my injury. From outside you see a different picture than from within the team. You know exactly when and how to help and Gabi has been excellent because it is not always easy for himself to be out for three or four months but he was very positive in the dressing room and that is what we need.”
Get him back on the field and the result is pure chaos according to manager Mikel Arteta – and the way he bamboozled Luke Ayling into kicking out at him in the area certainly caught Xhaka’s eye. He said: “You don’t need to talk about ‘chaos’ a lot – you saw it today.
“His action got the penalty and he had other actions in the first and second half. He is a very, very special player.” Meanwhile Brendan Aaronson admitted Leeds “let themselves down” in the period immediately after the break but vowed to bounce back with six points from their next two relegation battles.
The disappointment of going behind in the first half was compounded when Ben White scored within two minutes of the restart – despite manager Javi Gracia calling on the players to focus.
“The gameplan was working well and I think we had them on the counter-attack a few times,” Aaronson said. “We didn’t finish our chances and that is the end of the story. If we had finished our chances It would be a different game.
“We came in at half-time and we knew what we had to do – stay strong and keep defending. But we let ourselves down and that is what happens sometimes.” Leeds now face Nottingham Forest on Tuesday before entertaining Crystal Palace on Sunday.
“The thing about this team is we don’t give up and we are going to keep fighting to the end,” Aaronson added. “The coach says don’t worry about the table – all we can worry about is the next result. We want six points this week.”
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