Before Arsenal signed Gabriel Jesus in the summer, they had never really brought in an out-and-out goalscorer like Haaland or Vlahović – the latter of which was linked with the Gunners back in January. Last season, Jesus scored just eight league goals for Manchester City, four of them in a 5-1 win over Watford in April. However, in addition to this, Jesus has eight assists: Manchester City have won the Premier League again, and none of City's players has been able to get more assists in the league. As the Arsenal newcomer has done under Mikel Arteta, the starting striker needs to bring more goals to his game to shine in the Gunners' forward line.
Kicking the ball into the goal is the bare minimum requirement for any striker, but as the game progresses, strikers need to do more with the ball on and off the ball. In order for teammates to create a threat, forwards have a greater responsibility to participate in offensive tandems. For Manchester City, Haaland is not as committed as the others, but the likes of Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are expected to provide the Norwegians with ammunition to score goals, a move that has paid off, as his 18 league goals this season have shown. Having not taken time to adapt to English football, Haaland has scored more goals in 12 games than Jesus has scored since the start of the 2021-2022 Premier League season (13). It has been nine games without scoring since the Brazilian scored a goal for Arsenal in a 3-1 win over Tottenham in early October. During that time, the Brazilians had 27 shots on goal without scoring any goals, seven of which came in their 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
So, should Jesus' goal drought be a concern for Arsenal fans? Well, it's not either. For Brazilians, this is not so clear. From the outside, yes, Arsenal fans should be concerned that their new striker has failed to add another one of the five goals of the season since the beginning of last month. Of course, it remains to be seen when he will end this goal drought, but his game is more than just a waste of chances. As past games have shown, Mikel Arteta likes his main striker to play in a special way. Pierre-Emerick will never be a bridgehead in Arteta's system. It's not a personal problem for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but he relies on maximising his speed and trying to tear up defence, a way Arsenal hasn't really played, which is why Mikel Arteta often prefers to use the current Chelsea striker on the wing rather than in the middle.
It is also for this reason that Lacazette is more successful in attack than the Gabonese forward. Lacazette may struggle to catch up with his performance in Ligue 1 at the Emirates Stadium, but stylistically, he is better suited than Aubameyang. In fact, Lacazette prefers to retreat very deep to find possession, which gives wingers the maximum use of free space to pursue goals. It is therefore not surprising that Saka (11 goals) and Martinelli (6) were the club's first and fourth top scorers respectively in the Premier League last season, while no Arsenal player has more assists than Lacazette (seven), who averaged 1.5 key passes per game, putting him fourth in the Gunners' squad. Everything Lacazette did, Jesus did, only to a higher standard.
The Brazilian already has five assists, with only Saka (six) providing more for Arsenal, while 1.7 key passes is the fourth highest on the team. What stands out more than Lacazette, however, is the Brazilian's advantage in possession. Lacazette averaged 22.3 passes per game for the Gunners last season, while Jesus averaged 28.2 passes per game. Crucially, there has been progress in receiving and possessing the ball forward, which allows Arsenal to maintain higher pressure on the pitch. No Arsenal player has averaged more dribbles per game (2.1) than Jesus this season. By comparison, Lacazette averaged only one finish per game. After 13 league games, Jesus has completed more dribbles (26) than Lacazette's 30-game stat (19).
Mikel Arteta and his team clearly need to upgrade Lacazette's performance up front, and they got that from Jesus, who did everything better than the former Gunners striker, which in turn boosted the entire line. Arsenal's most talked-about attacking players this season are Jesus, Odegaard, Martinelli and Saka. Driven by the Brazilian, the performance of the latter three has improved significantly. Arsenal have shown great potential in attack, with one of the smoothest forwards in the Premier League, and Jesus is key to that. Goals may not come as one after another as some fans would like, but at least Arsenal are still scoring, 31 in fact: only Manchester City (39) has scored more in the English top flight this season. There are now 10 different players scoring for Arsenal, so it's clear that goals are evenly distributed in the squad, which is perhaps what Arteta had in mind when he signed Jesus, which in turn eased the pressure on the former Manchester City star to regularly include his name in the goalscorers' chart.
The Spaniard worked with Jesus during his time at Manchester City, so Mikel Arteta is well aware of the striker's strengths and weaknesses, and he has taken that to the extreme. Jesus may not have given Arsenal the title the way a complete goalscorer, but even with a recent lack of a goal, the 25-year-old has proven to be one of the best signings of the summer, largely because the Gunners' attack has been excellent since his arrival.