MIKEL ARTETA has backed “unbelievable” Gabriel Jesus to get the best out of Arsenal’s attack.
Jesus, 28, is fit to start his first game in nearly a year after injuring his knee in January.
The striker is set to come into the Arsenal team for their Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace tomorrow night.
And Arteta has hailed the return of Jesus just before Christmas because of his ability to bring people together.
The Arsenal boss said: “You can see now, not only in games, every day in training how much he wants it. He’s going to deserve a chance soon.
“That’s probably the biggest quality of Gabi, bringing people together, connecting with people and generating a lot of uncertainty in the opponent.
“When you see him today [against Everton], the amount of spaces that he was involved in, that’s his biggest quality. So we need to exploit that.”
Jesus joined Arsenal from Manchester City in the summer of 2022 for £45million.
Arteta described the Brazilian then as a player who “creates chaos” and a year later added how he “changed our world”.
Jesus faces fierce competition for his place now after Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres in the summer.
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Kai Havertz and Mikel MerIno are also options to lead the line, but Arteta has stressed how Jesus has a role to play.
Arteta said: “When he joined us, he lifted the belief, the spirit and the energy of the club and the team.
“He gave something very different to what we already had, and it was really impressive.
“And then he had some very bad injuries that haven’t allowed him to have the consistency that we need from a very important player.
“But he’s back, his fighting spirit, he’s decided to always prepare the best way. He’s unbelievable and the team has got it now and we need to use it.
“I was watching when he was seven months already on the pitch and the way he was moving and how much he wanted it.
“He wrote a beautiful letter there explaining what football means to him and how it affects his life. It was something beautiful.”
