Gabriel Jesus Arsenal GFX GOAL

'Not good enough' - Gabriel Jesus will never be a great goalscorer, but can Arsenal still win the Premier League with the Brazilian up front?

During the first half of last month's north London derby, and with Arsenal deservedly leading 1-0, Gabriel Jesus picked James Maddison's pocket on the edge of the Tottenham area. The Gunners striker was left one on one with Guglielmo Vicario, but blazed the ball over the bar.

It was arguably the key moment of a game that eventually ended in a 2-2 draw. Certainly, if a then-dominant Arsenal had doubled their advantage, they would have been perfectly placed to go on and win the game. We'll never know for sure, of course, but there was no getting away from the fact that Jesus had blown a glorious chance to put his side in a commanding position in a massive match.

It was a chance that he had created but, in the eyes of many observers, including some concerned Arsenal fans, the entire play rather summed Jesus up, as it highlighted both his excellent endeavour and poor finishing.

ESPN pundit Steve Nicol said at the time: "[Erling] Haaland doesn’t miss that chance; that's the difference. If that's Haaland, that ball is in the back of the net. Jesus just cannot do what he did there. That is horrendous, not good enough."

The assessment may have been blunt, and the comparison with Haaland a tad unfair, given the Norwegian is a very different No.9, but Nicol is certainly not alone in his belief that Jesus is "not good enough" to spearhead a team with Premier League title aspirations.

Article continues below