Viktor Gyokeres or Gabriel Jesus - who should be Arsenal's first-choice striker for their historic quadruple pursuit?

There were a fair few reasons why Arsenal twice tasted defeat in title tussles with Manchester City before being surprisingly left trailing in Liverpool's wake last season, including injuries to key players at most inopportune moments.

The Gunners addressed their lack of depth by spending even more money in the transfer market last summer to provide Arteta with the strongest squad in world football and, in doing so, they also attempted to solve another major problem: the longstanding need for a prolific No.9.

No player had scored more league goals across Europe's top 10 leagues in the previous two seasons than Gyokeres (68), who joined Arsenal from Sporting CP on July 26 for £64 million ($86m).

The Swedish striker was touted as the 'missing link', the lethal finisher required to turn perennial runners-up into serial champions. However, while Arsenal could hardly be better placed to end their 22-year English title drought, Gyokeres has contributed surprisingly little to the cause.

Gyokeres has scored just five Premier League goals this season - and two of those were penalties. Of course, if the 27-year-old were making his presence felt in other ways, it would be easier to defend him - but his all-round play has been poor.

Indeed, Gyokeres has been getting involved in Arsenal attacks about as much as Erling Haaland does for Manchester City - but without finishing them off, which makes for a pretty stark contrast between the two No.9s.

Arteta has repeatedly pointed out that Gyokeres didn't have the benefit of a proper pre-season because of the way in which he forced through his move from Lisbon.

"The first few weeks were difficult because physically he wasn't in his best state and he's a player that needs that, like any other player in this league, almost to perform at that level," the Spaniard explained.

"But I know we also need to continue to tweak and understand him a little bit better in certain situations, and he needs to do the same. But that's about time. We have full support for him."

It was certainly noticeable just how overjoyed Arsenal's players were for Gyokeres when he scored his first goal in open play for three months in last week's Carabao Cup win at Chelsea.

Star midfielder Declan Rice has also argued that a lot of the Sweden international's good work goes unnoticed, in the sense that he creates space for his team-mates by occupying opponents in central areas.

"It's tough for him, because he's got two defenders on him all game, all over him," Rice pointed out after netting a double in Arsenal's 3-2 win at Bournemouth on January 3.

"So, he has to use his strength, he has to do all he can to help the team and with my first goal tonight, without him making that run from Gabriel Martinelli's flick and holding it, setting it off to Martin [Odegaard], that goal wouldn't happen. That was a pivotal moment in the game for us to turn the game on its head.

"I also see how hard he hits a ball, and when that space arrives for him and the ball's arriving at his feet to score goals, he will 100 percent score. Trust me, he's doing unbelievably well for us, and we wouldn't be where we are without him.

"But, at the minute, defenders in the Premier League want to be able to stop Viktor Gyokeres, because he's one of the best strikers in the world."

The onus is very much on him to prove it - particularly amid reports that Arsenal are weighing up a massive summer move for Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez. But it's Jesus who represents the more immediate threat to Gyokeres' starting spot.

Arsenal's acquisition of Gyokeres appeared to end whatever hope Jesus had left of resurrecting his career at Arsenal. At the time of the Swede's arrival, Jesus was six months into his recovery from a knee injury that would keep him out for a further five.

Ahead of the Brazilian's return to first-team action in December, there was inevitable talk of a player with less than 18 months left on his contract being allowed to leave Arsenal during the winter window - especially as Kai Havertz, who had proven himself capable of leading the line last season, was also approaching full fitness after his own lengthy ACL lay-off.

There's no chance of Arsenal letting Jesus go now, though - not even on loan - because Gyokeres is still struggling to impact league games, while Arteta has been very open about the need to manage Havertz's game time very carefully.

More importantly than anything else, though, Jesus showed at San Siro that he still has plenty to offer at the highest level, with the 28-year-old netting twice on his first start in the Champions League since December 2024.

"It's a dream night," he admitted to Amazon Prime. "I always dreamed of being a footballer. I watched when I was a kid. I watched a lot of Serie A, so to be here in this stadium and score here is tears in my eyes because I always dreamed of being here. There is always a reason that things happen even whether it's good things or difficult things. I learned that during my 11 months out of the field."

It must obviously be acknowledged that Jesus has never been a prolific goal-scorer. The former City forward has been in England for 10 years yet never once managed more than 14 goals across a single Premier League campaign - and only hit double figures three times in total.

There have been mitigating circumstances; at the Etihad, he was often played on the wing by Pep Guardiola (and often to very good effect thanks to his industry and technical ability), while his time at the Emirates has been adversely affected by injuries. 

Nonetheless, Jesus just isn't a 30-goal-a-season striker. In fact, he's only managed 29 in 108 appearances for Arsenal.

What Jesus does bring to the table, though, is the kind of "belief" and "energy" that Arteta famously said "changed our world" when he joined from City all the way back in 2023.

Both attributes were on show against Inter, which prompted his manager to once again praise Jesus' mentality.

"He's an unbelievable player and the bigger the game, the more comfortable he plays," Arteta enthused in his post-match interview on Amazon Prime.

Arsenal are certainly going to need big-game players during the business end of the season, which is really going to test the mettle of a team that has been accused of 'bottling' the league in recent years, so Jesus' experience and positivity could well give him the edge over Gyokeres in Arteta's mind.

As Gabriel Martinelli has previously pointed out, the reason why he and his fellow forwards love playing off Jesus is that his compatriot "loves to link up and rotate" regularly - which creates a fluidity in the forward line that the manager considers invaluable.

"Gabi has a really special quality, which is that suddenly he connects everybody around him," Arteta said, "and that’s something that we as a team need, and it will make us better."

None of this is to say that Gyokeres won't have a role to play in Arsenal's quadruple pursuit. The mere fact that the team is still competing on four fronts means that he, Jesus and Havertz will all be needed to help the Gunners negotiate an insane schedule.

It's a point that Jesus has made himself. The Palmeiras academy product has been very vocal in his support for both Gyokeres and Havertz - even though the trio are essentially competing for the one position. 

"Everyone wants to start," Jesus acknowledged in Milan. "I am a very respectful guy. I am not a kid anymore, I am 28, so I understand football. I am very happy Vik came on and scored a goal. I am so happy I scored and Vik scored. I am also confident Kai will score when he gets the chance."

Jesus' words of encouragement rather neatly summed him up as a character and underlined just how important he's going to be to Arsenal in the coming days, weeks and months - however he's utilised.

"My strongest trait is that I will do whatever it takes to help the team win titles," Jesus said. "At City, I played many roles. I shared the goal-scoring load sometimes, other times I played out on the wing, and other times I used my physicality to link up play. I don't always need to be the No.9 to help the team. I am not still here for the weather. I am here to make history." 

Arsenal will do likewise if they keep faith in Jesus - starting with Sunday's showdown with United.