Star Gunners’ striker and former Manchester City stalwart Gabriel Jesus has opened up on his recent tenure so far at Arsenal and revealed the secret to the side’s stellar Premier League title push this season.
The Gunners were a top-four disappointment last season but in the blink of an eye have managed to transcend their abysmal slump to transform into serious Premier League title contenders currently leading the pack, 6 points ahead of their nearest rivals Manchester City. Their meteoric rise from mediocrity to title challengers just one-year on certainly wasn’t something foreseen by many. It cannot be doubted anymore that this side seems set to stay comfortably at the top under the capable stewardship of Mikel Arteta and his young squad that obviously could get even better.
Sitting currently six points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played one game more than the Cityzens and with a head-to-head lying coming up at the end of this month, the litmus test is on to see how close to excellence the Gunners are. Undoubtedly the mastermind behind their rise is the unwavering Spaniard who used to be the apprentice to Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, as he opened up on the finer points defining life at the Emirates Stadium.
“You go day by day honestly,” Arteta responded ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Ham when asked if he foresaw this title challenge eight months ago. “There is so much that happens in a month in football that you cannot really look. Obviously, the aim was to take this football club back where it belongs and that’s fighting and being around every single trophy possible. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Coming directly from the horse’s mouth, this is likely the best view and understanding of how Arteta persevered through the initial rocky patches and successfully put together his own manual on how to manage the finer points of football management at the club that have now resulted in the team scaling the heights match after match.
This is precisely what former Cityzens star striker Jesus identified with when he discussed how the club were able to navigate a steady return to the top when he spoke with BBC Sport on Football Focus: “It’s like the club already have the idea of where they wanna go, you know, when they start doing the works inside. I’m not saying me, myself only, but everyone who has stayed here for us and everyone that has come has helped a lot.”
The Brazilian understandably knows where Arteta is coming from as it’s not the first time he has worked with Guardiola’s former no. 2, having previously played under the coach during their time together at the Etihad.
Discussing Arteta’s impact on the title run, the forward added: “First, we know each other a long time ago, you know, and I was training with him at City a lot. You know I was running in a bad period of not scoring goals and he just show me some clips of my goals, of my chances in that time and that helped me a lot.
“He’s this type of manager, looking for everyone, take care of everyone, not just players but everyone at the club.”