Mikel Artetaof arsenal The team does not possess elite shooters. It’s a fact, don’t argue with us. The Gunners are likely to stay at the top of the table Premier League But if there’s one thing missing from this elite squad, it’s a No. 9 capable of reaching Erling Haaland’s level.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Harry Kane and Haaland feel like the only forwards currently capable of 30-goal seasons in Europe’s top leagues.

Viktor Gyokeres will do his best to achieve this goal. After all, he scored 54 goals last season, but he did it in the top flight of Portuguese football.

As we can see, that’s clearly a long way below the top flight of English football. That said, the Swede has been improving and he now looks like he’s finally adapted to Arsenal’s colours.

The numbers behind Arsenal’s progress in the final third

There were complaints not too long ago about the quality of Arsenal’s forward line.

Arteta’s side appear to rely on set pieces and own goals to get past the bottom line. In fact, in the 3-2 loss to Manchester United, they only scored through Lisandro Martinez’s own goal and a corner kick. While scoring in dead-ball situations has proven sustainable in recent years, relying on opponents to put the ball into their own net is not.

As of the end of January, they were joint top scorers in the 2025/26 Premier League with Joe Kreis and Leandro Trossard with own goals (5). However, we have worked hard to improve chance creation and scoring in aerial combat. This has been the case in recent weeks.

Arsenal’s top summer signing has now scored six goals in 2026, more than any Premier League player in all competitions this year. His form coincides with Kai Havertz’s return to the squad.

Havertz will only play 10 games in 2025 after hamstring and knee injuries hampered his year, but he has made a strong comeback in recent weeks. So the news on Wednesday night that the German will miss three to four weeks with a muscle injury came as a heavy blow.

The former Chelsea man has impressed during his return to fitness, scoring against his former club in the Carabao Cup to take Arsenal to Wembley and scoring against Kairat Almaty.

Although he only played 45 minutes against his Kazakh opponents, he performed brilliantly and provided a brilliant through ball to Djokres for the opening goal.

While it looked likely that the German would cut into the Swede’s minutes, they have coexisted and Arsenal look the better for it. However, their form is bad news for one of the club’s highest-paid players, Gabriel Jesus.

Why Gabriel Jesus is on borrowed time

With a reported weekly wage of £265,000, Jesus is one of the highest-paid players in the entire Premier League, but are his wages reasonable?

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Well, the Brazilian did suffer a serious ACL injury last year, so he can be forgiven in that regard. But sadly, the former Manchester City striker has struggled with a knee injury during his time in north London and his form since returning has been shaky to say the least.

Jesus’ most notable contribution came in the San Siro’s 3-1 win over Inter Milan, where he scored the opening two goals. In the game against Leeds United at the end of January, he also came on as a substitute and helped the team win 4-0.

That said, with Havertz back and Joe Kreis in excellent form, his playing time has suffered. He has not played a full 90 minutes in the Premier League all season and exited last Saturday after 58 minutes against Manchester United and 60 minutes against Sunderland.

That performance against the Black Cats was a wake-up call. Is Jesus really good enough to lead Arsenal now?

Well, he was more involved than Joe Kress. He connects well with the game, drops deep and can dribble past players and has moments of personal magic. Still, he just can’t seem to keep up, and that was never more evident than last weekend against Regis LeBrice’s team.

While Joe Kres came on and scored twice to devastating effect, the Brazilian star was a huge source of frustration. He was flagged for offside three times but it didn’t help in the slightest.

He also had just one shot, totaling 0.01 xG. Jesus would never score on the opportunities he created for himself. The forward also failed to win in three duels.

For a former player Considered, in the words of Ray Parlor, “a bit like Henry”judging by the way he cut inside from the left, his time at the Emirates sadly looked like it was coming to an end.

Jesus will travel across London to face Brentford on Thursday night, and even if Havertz is injured again, Jesus will not be able to enter the starting lineup at all. Mikel, Joe Kreis is your pick heading to the Bees.

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