Gabriel Jesus Stat That Will Be Giving Arsenal Fans Sleepless Nights

The xG Philosophy has revealed damning stats about Arsenal striker, Gabriel Jesus that will be giving Arsenal supporters concerns.

Gabriel Jesus is not just a goal-scorer, and his all-round performances up front for the Gunners this season seem to have really benefited the team, who sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

Still, there’s no doubt at all that Jesus should be doing better in front of the goal, and the stats prove it.

See below as The xG Philosophy tweet just how far below his expected goals Jesus is so far this season, with the Brazil international clearly failing to put away chances of good quality that most other players in his position would be taking

Arsenal fans will hope Jesus can improve after the break for the World Cup, or else it’s hard to see them staying top of the table for much longer.

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Jesus has shown from his time at Manchester City what a top player he can be, but Mikel Arteta might do well to bring in another attacking player who can provide a more reliable and consistent goal threat when the transfer window re-opens in January.

One of the things Arsenal fans ignored when Gabriel Jesus was signed was his relatively low goal-scoring totals for Manchester City. Pro Jesus fans were quick to dismiss these concerns as nitpicking and hating on the player and team. That was not necessarily the case.

Jesus got off to a quick start and has scored important goals for Arsenal, with 5 goals and 6 assists in the league, there is no rational argument that Jesus has been anything but excellent for the Gunners.

But. And this is important and not meant as a negative; Jesus has always been valuable for his all action, end-to-end contributions to the success of the Cityzens, as opposed to being a pure goal scorer. Before coming to London, Jesus’ best league total for goals was 16. GJ’s last 5 seasons he contributed 8/9, 9/4, 14/8, and 7/3 in the league.

The argument among the Jesus lovers was; he’d score more playing in his preferred position as a lone striker, and he’d score because he would be playing lots of minutes. Those are not bad arguments, but based on Jesus’ current numbers, he is on pace for a very “typically Jesus” year.

In previous seasons for City, he played 1,800, 2,000, 2,000, 1,000, and 1,600 minutes. Thus far Jesus has played 1,200 minutes; on pace for his highest league minutes in the Premier League. doubling his current goals and assists, a fair number given Arsenal has played 14 games would give Jesus 10 goals and 12 assists. Good to great numbers for a #10 or winger, but very average for a striker. His minutes per goal is 245, the worst among strikers with 5 goals or more.

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Some of this is a function of how Arsenal plays, something Arsenal fans refused to accept as a reason for lower goal totals from Alexandre Lacazette or Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. The striker in Arteta’s team is expected to be a more complete player, and Jesus is, but that costs him and the club at the offensive end of the pitch.

The question is, will Arsenal’s fans accept that a striker who cost $50+ million is earning his pay at 10-12 goals a season when they would not accept that two forwards who scored similarly to better numbers of goals and a winger who scored 10 goals a season (Pepe) had done enough to justify their prices.

So long as Arsenal sit atop the league, everything will be hunky-dory, but if the Gunners slide down the table to third or fourth, expect the fickle fan to start wondering aloud if the Gunners need to make a move to bring in a “proper #9.”