Mikel Arteta says it’s still too early to put a timeline on Gabriel Jesus’ return to action.
It was confirmed ahead of the Emirates Cup win over Monaco that the Brazil international would miss the start of the season after undergoing a procedure on the same knee he injured at the World Cup in December.
On that occasion, the player was sidelined for three months but the latest setback is not thought to be anywhere near as serious.
All the same, the club are going to take their time with the 26-year-old knowing there’s a long season ahead.
“It’s a bit early still, it’s only less than two weeks since his operation,” said Arteta on Friday.
“He’s doing really well to be fair and next week hopefully he can start to start doing some activity but it’s something that we want to be cautious and make sure that he comes back in the right way.”
Arsenal’s only other absentee heading into the new season is Mo Elneny who continues to ramp up his rehab on a knee injury of his own. He’s been sidelined since January and will likely feature for the under-21s before any first team involvement.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho and Reiss Nelson were all spotted in training last week so appear close to competing for inclusion in Arteta’s matchday squad. That said, given the Ukraine international missed a big chunk of pre-season with the calf problem he picked up in May, he’s another they may well choose to be cautious with.
“I think everybody is going to be available, obviously we have Mo still out and Jesus still with an injury but the rest should be fine,” reported Arteta.
Arsenal open the campaign against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates in the early kick-off on Saturday. It’s the first time we’ve played at home on Matchweek One in five years.
“We love playing at the Emirates,” said Arteta. We love playing in front of our people. We have created an incredible atmosphere and the boys and everybody I think they can’t wait to be there tomorrow ready for the kick-off and to put on the performance that they deserve and we want to do.”
Quite right. Take your time coming back.
We want the marauding maniac back, the version of Jesus that he was last season before the pre World Cup.
Kind of amazing that when this happened last season we had Eddie and… well that was it.
This season we have Kai and Trossard and I’m not actually too worried about Jesus’ absence.
Depth.
But get well soon though, Gab. You will be missed.
While I agree (tross and Kai should be ahead of Eddie – not sure Mikel agrees, but let’s see), I think Jesus is going to be a key player in unlocking Kai’s full potential.
I’m just a bit over Eddie. Yeah, you can chop up 30 mins of a game and show me some nice touches. But I still can’t remember a complete performance where he linked all the aspects of his game together and played a 9 out of 10 for us. Yes, he’s scored important goals. Yes, he has some nice touches. But when you look at the performances Saka is dropping without even thinking, you realise that Eddie is so far off. Despite some nice moments, over the course of 5 or 6 games, he’s a pretty average 6 out of… Read more »
I’ve always said he’s like Chicharito or Teddy were for Manure back in the day. kinda handy, but you don’t want him leading your line. The difference is Eddie seems to fail at the role he really needs to excel at – as a supersub. Thus, he’s quite suboptimal unless he can be an impact player and score big goals at big moments off the bench. Nelson seems more important in that role (obviously based off one super goal!)
Who knows, Eddie is a decent player who gives his all and has some nice link up touches, not an outside the box scorer but one who usually puts it on target inside, coz we play against teams set up to crowd their box with banks of 5 its not easy for Eddie to be successful, its why we don’t play a big number 11 or a Giroud anymore, confident when Eddie takes his chances and gets a bit of luck he will push on.
Would be nice if he were ready for the Man Utd game. But that might be a little too soon, judging by this
Miracles take a little longer, even for the resurrection man.
Saint Thomas is certainly doubtful.
Three people in uniform knocked my door and asked if I was expecting his imminent return and I said No. They asked if I had a Nketiah jersey, I said No. They looked at each other and said they would come back when I have time to discuss more with me.
An upgrade on Jesus should be a must next season, or even January. Does everything well apart from the most important thing
An upgrade on Jesus…. Who u thinking, Mbappe?