“I would never”: Gabriel Jesus makes Arsenal start claim | OneFootball

Gabriel Jesus has defended his recent scoring record and insisted he’s not going to go knocking on Mikel Arteta’s door begging for more starts.

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Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus scored a hat-trick against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, which quadrupled his goal tally for the season so far. The 27-year-old’s only previous goal this season was in the previous round of the League Cup against Preston North End.

The striker hasn’t scored in the Premier League so far this campaign, but he argues that he hasn’t necessarily had the chances to do so.

“I want to score every game, like everyone. But sometimes we don’t have chances,” Jesus said (via The S*n).

“People say, ‘Gabby played 20 games and scored once’. But they don’t see I am coming on for five or ten minutes. Against Manchester City, I came on as a left wing-back.

“Against Palace was the first game I played a full 90 minutes without cramp, a problem in my life always.

“Sometimes, if you are not playing it is harder to come on and make an impact.”

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

It’s probably fair to say that Jesus hasn’t really had the opportunities in the Premier League this season. He’s only started two matches (both of which Arsenal won), coming off the bench in the rest of his 13 appearances.

Of those 11 substitute showings, the longest was his 21-minute cameo against Everton last week. Over half of his sub appearances were for 10 minutes or less.

Even so, all of those games add up to 265 minutes without a league goal, and that’s just this season. If you include the 2023/24 campaign, the drought is a lot longer.

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Perhaps a run in the starting lineup would help Jesus to find more consistency, but he says he’s not going to go asking for games.

“I have knocked on a manager’s door only one time in my life,” Jesus said. “I knocked on Pep Guardiola’s door – not to complain but to ask him what I could improve.

“I would never go to Mikel’s door and say, ‘I want to play’.”