Gabriel Jesus must help Arsenal and take the momentum into the Premier League

A year and a day after his last Emirates competition goal, Gabriel Jesus put Mikel Arteta’s pre-match words about the Carabao Cup into action.

His second-half hat-trick rounded out the 3-2 quarter-final win over Crystal Palace – just over 12 months after he scored in the 2-0 win over Brighton.

“It creates something different in the team and that’s why games like this are so important,” said the Arsenal coach in his pre-match press conference. “It keeps everyone on their toes and everyone ready to play these games and competitions and when you can win, that’s momentum and belief.”

After back-to-back Premier League draws against Fulham and Everton, Arsenal desperately needed momentum and confidence. Not only were the results disappointing, the performances lacked real urgency and threat despite having the majority of the ball. The first half against Crystal Palace followed the same pattern. Jakub Kiwior’s failure to deal with Jean-Phillipe Mateta was an indicator of how the half would end. But in the second half there was a twist, and Jesus was the protagonist of it.

“I’m so happy for him,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. “It’s been a long time without goals for him and today, with three goals, the three types of goals he’s scored – and the many actions he’s been involved in – he looked very sharp.

“I think it’s a great thing for him and the team that we can rely on a player of this quality. He has a quality, a way of creating and innovating situations that is unique. Therefore, Gabi is a great asset for us at this level.”

This unique, innovative way of creating situations was groundbreaking when Jesus first arrived at Arsenal in 2022. Within minutes of his debut, coincidentally at Crystal Palace, it was clear that he had raised the level of Arteta’s front line. That Friday evening, he picked up the ball on the halfway line and overcame several tackles before releasing it for a shot from Gabriel Martinelli. These insane runs became a feature of his game, helping Arsenal unlock teams. You would be more than welcome in the coming weeks.

Jesus scores against Palace (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Jesus showed glimpses of that move to pick up an assist against Monaco, but it’s important that Arteta highlights the different types of goals he scored against Crystal Palace. The first was a clever strike over Dean Henderson, the second was struck cleanly past the goalkeeper. The Brazilian then sent it the wrong way after running half the length of the pitch for the third time. All three goals came from a similar angle, but giving each one a different finishing touch almost showed Jesus growing in confidence in real time.

Arteta seemed to have sensed this as he told Sky Sports: “The movement, the quality of his touches, the way he executed the actions, that’s a big, big thing for him and the team. It’s a big message for the team that we have Gabi back in top form.”

Jesus told Sky Sports: “Sometimes I have the problem that I lack goals, but I can score goals. I can make assists, help the team in defense and help with runs backwards. When I score, everyone sees it. If I don’t do that, they want their striker to score goals and I agree with that. That’s why I work a lot in training to finish more and put myself in a good position to finish actions. Today my hard work paid off.”

Arsenal have hardly been behind lately. Their play became predictable too often against Fulham, Monaco and Everton, with the ball circulating back and forth in wide areas.

A few tweaks helped allow for better movement and spacing as Arsenal attacked in the second half. The first was the presence of Kieran Tierney at left-back. In his pre-Monaco press conference, Arteta said he would exploit the Scot’s overlapping strengths rather than asking him to reverse like he did two seasons ago. This freedom helped Arsenal launch their first attack of the game when Tierney was found by Mikel Merino in the final third.

In the second half, Trossard moving into the infield gave Tierney even more space to exploit. Within a few minutes, the left-back was rampaging forward again, delivering a low cross that should have been parried away by Raheem Sterling. This created a completely different dynamic to the Arsenal attack. This in turn stretched Crystal Palace’s defensive line and created more space for Martin Odegaard, who came on at half-time to play an excellent reverse ball for Jesus’ equaliser.

Arteta spoke about the importance of the Carabao Cup (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Compared to the first half, when the middle of the pitch was full of yellow Crystal Palace shirts, these changes allowed Arsenal to be much more vertical in their game than in recent weeks. Odegaard played more back passes into a more central squadron throughout the half, and Bukayo Saka supported Jesus’ second pass with a similar type of pass when he came on.

While Jesus can help ease the pressure on Kai Havertz, the entire team must carry the momentum of the second-half performance. This cannot be another night like the one in January away to Nottingham Forest, where Jesus made the difference in a 2-1 win with a goal and an assist, only to score again in October against Preston North End.

Arsenal will find out their Carabao Cup semi-final opponents after Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur clash tonight (December 19). In a season where some believe Arteta’s Arsenal need a trophy, using this competition as a springboard could be as important now as it potentially was in January and February.

“It brings belief, trust and positive energy when you touch the trophy,” Arteta, who won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two Carabao Cups with Manchester City, said before the game. “Being in the semi-finals and beating someone in the final, that’s that energy and it creates the right path to do something different. There is a certain momentum, particularly due to the timing and hosting of the competition in this country.”

(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)