Arsenal face Brentford on Saturday, and Mikel Arteta has a few selection headaches to contend with heading into this one.
Indeed, the Gunners had a few injury issues before the international break, but now, many of those players are returning to fitness. Albeit, they may not be fully ready to start just yet.
One such player is Gabriel Jesus. He played a full 90 minutes for Brazil earlier this week, but with a gruelling travel schedule and ongoing fitness issues, there are questions to be asked around whether or not he should start this game.
Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke has been discussing Jesus, and he says that while the £45m man should start every game for Arsenal when fit and available, he wouldn’t play him this weekend.
Jesus shouldn’t start
Clarke gave his verdict on the attacker.
“It’s a really good question because I would always have Gabriel Jesus starting if I’m honest, I really like him as a player, but for this game, no. We have Gabriel who has come back from Brazil and Martinelli who has come back from Brazil. I don’t know if I want three players in our XI who has had that trip. Jesus has just played a full 90 minutes and he’s not done that for a long time, it might be more prudent to start him on the bench, Trossard has been very good and deserves to keep his place,” Clarke said.
Don’t risk it
Clarke may be right here, it’s not worth risking Jesus in this game.
Arsenal will be favourites against Brentford with or without Jesus, and if the Brazilian were to get injured during this game, that would be much more damaging to their season than anything else.
As Clarke says, Leandro Trossard has been playing really well recently, and, in our view, he should be trusted to carry on up top in this game.