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Ahead of the north London derby, Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus has issued the latest update on his recovery from injury.
THE LOWDOWN: ON THE SIDELINES
Jesus picked up an injury playing for Brazil against Cameroon in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, ending his tournament after only three games. Brazil went on to exit the tournament two games later, in the quarter-final stages but Jesus was at home long before then.
The striker underwent successful surgery in early December, whose recovery period is supposed to see him spend at most three months on the sidelines, with the earliest recovery being in February.
All the reports are media speculation, however, because Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta refused to put a date to his return.
The Spaniard said back in December: “I never gave a date. I said we don’t know. It’s going to take some time for sure.
“Obviously he’s gone through surgery so that tells you the extent of the injury and we’ll be in the market, always active and we will assess the biggest opportunities that we have.”
THE LATEST: FORWARD’S UPDATE
Since then, Jesus has celebrated a family milestone and has been doing physiotherapy to get back into shape. He recently shared his progress with his fans on Instagram.
The post, a boomerang video of him working on a training bike, was captioned, “5 weeks” with a tick.
In the meantime, Eddie Nketiah has been deputizing for him in the squad to great effect.
The 23-year-old has scored four goals in four games since the season resumed after the World Cup break.
THE VERDICT: FIERCE COMPETITION FOR SPOTS
However, both Jesus and Nketiah could soon have another competition for places in the squad, after Arteta stressed on the Gunners’ need to sign another striker.
Jesus has been pivotal to how Arsenal have played this season and is one of the key reasons why his former club Manchester City is playing catch-up with the Gunners.
His last goal, his fifth of the Premier League for Arsenal, was way back in October 1, 2022, but he has created tons of chances since then, leading to great goals from the rest of the team.
He will be hard to replace in the squad but with a new striker on the way and Arteta deathly focused on the team as a whole, he will have to prove he can still be useful upon his return to fitness.
