Mikel Arteta makes Gabriel Jesus claim as Arsenal's hat-trick hero ends worrying drought

Gabriel Jesus scored not one, not two but three goals to end his Emirates drought as Arsenal came from behind to beat Crystal Palace and reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals

Posted Thursday, December 19, 2024 by mirror.co.uk

Gabriel Jesus hadn't scored at the Emirates in over a year

Mikel Arteta claimed Gabriel Jesus can be a "big asset" for the rest of the season after the Brazilian's first Arsenal hat-trick.

The former Manchester City striker scored his first home goals in a year as he led a second-half Carabao Cup comeback against Crystal Palace. He had scored only one goal this season before last night away at Preston in the previous round.

Arsenal had drawn their last two Premier League matches and lacked a cutting edge up front. But they remain in contention for four competitions and Jesus showed the form which helped win four Premier League titles with City.

And Gunners boss Arteta said: "I'm so pleased for him. It's been a long period for him without goals and today, to score three goals, he looked very sharp. I think it's a great thing for him and the team that we can rely on a player of such quality.

"He brings something. He has a quality, a way of creating and innovating situations that is quite unique. So Gabi at that level is a big asset for us.

"It's now about consistency. Now this is a moment of spark that will bring so much confidence, not only to him, but to the team as well that we can rely on him to change games. Now we need to take it and give him more games and chances.

We need to give him more chances because when a player is in that moment it's important to continue that. It's good that we have players knocking on the door and are telling the team I deserve to be there. So it's a good problem to have."

Arteta had made eight changes to his Premier League team and missed Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka until they came off the bench in the second half.

"They are two of our best players," Arteta added. "But we rely on the team and we rely on a lot of individuals like every other team to perform, to change games, to help us to impact the teams and help us when they're coming from the bench."

Jesus' second goal would have been ruled out for offside in the Premier League by VAR. "I think it was offside but there is no VAR," said Palace boss Oliver Glasner. "Everyone knows this. They had too many chances in the second half, we gave them too many chances. When they found the gaps we shifted too slow."