Mikel Arteta names Arsenal star who’s been ‘unlocked’ ahead of key games

Mikel Arteta feels that Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus has been ‘unlocked’ ahead of key games against Newcastle United, Inter Milan and Chelsea.

Jesus found the back of the net in Wednesday night’s 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Championship side Preston North End, who play in English football’s second-tier.

Arteta praised the 27-year-old Brazil international forward for his ‘good performance’ afterwards as the Gunners now get ready for three massive fixtures across the space of just eight days from November 2 to November 10.

Quizzed about Jesus scoring his first goal of the season, Arteta pointed out that his draught had gone on a little longer than that and said: ‘His first since January.

‘It’s been a long time [but] that’s going to, I think, unlock that thing mentally, and move on, I think he had a good performance tonight.

‘[I am] very happy. I think it’s going to unlock that for him, he looks really happy. He’s performing, that attitude is there always, but he needs that feeling that he can put the ball in the back of the net.’

Jesus has produced a total of 20 goals and 16 assists in 81 games for Arsenal since the Gunners signed him from Manchester City in a £45m deal two years ago.

Arsenal manager Arteta was also asked why Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino were substituted at half-time.

‘That was planned,’ Arteta added. ‘We have a lot of issues in the backline, we wanted to share the minutes.

‘Because we lost Gabi, we lost Ben [White] as well on top of the other players so we have to make sure that we wanted to be competitive.

‘And we have to make sure as well that we protect players because we have a lot of games coming up now.’

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s 17-year-old wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri managed to get on the scoresheet in Wednesday’s victory at Preston.

‘He’s showing every day what he’s capable of,’ Arteta said. ‘You see his teammates, they give him the ball all the time, that’s a great sign. We have some player there.’

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