Arsenal’s win record with and without Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal have been handed a major headache ahead of the new Premier League season after Gabriel Jesus was forced to undergo minor surgery on his knee.

It's a big concern for the Brazilian, who had a similar knock that kept him out for a sizeable chunk of the 2022/23 campaign. Mikel Arteta confirmed the bad news ahead of the Gunners' most recent pre-season friendly, a 1-1 draw with Monaco.

"He's had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues so they had to go in. He's going to be out for a few weeks. It is a big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona and he was in good condition but unfortunately we lost him," Arteta said.

"We had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as quickly as possible. We decided to do it. It's something related to the previous injury he had and the surgery. He had some irritation in the knee and we had to get it resolved."

Jesus' injury last season was a blow for Arsenal and many feel it was one of the reasons their title charge fell away, but let's look at the figures.

Arsenal's record with Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal started the 2022/23 campaign incredibly well. They won their opening five Premier League games and only lost one of their first 11, drawing none. That defeat came against Manchester United at Old Trafford, which didn't cause massive concern in the fan base.

Of the first 16 matches in the Premier League - up to the point Jesus picked up his injury - Arsenal had a record of 14 wins, one defeat and one draw. In those games, Jesus scored five times and picked up six assists. The Europa League group stage was also completed in that time, where Arsenal won five and lost one. Jesus missed one of those games, but only got one assist in the other five.

It was a different story when Jesus returned from his injury for the final 12 Premier League games of the season. Arsenal's form had already started to deteriorate and his return from injury coincided with the spell where the Gunners really lost their grip on the Premier League title. He was still able to get another six goals in those games, but Arsenal only won six of the 12. That points more towards the team as a whole failing to maintain their momentum, and his six goals and one assist were not enough to fix things.

With Jesus fit, Arsenal were also knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and the Europa League at the hands of Brighton and Sporting CP respectively. Jesus did not feature heavily in those games, failing to score or assist.

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Arsenal's record without Gabriel Jesus

Despite having to rely on Eddie Nketiah and a variety of players who are not natural strikers, Arsenal coped pretty well without Jesus when his knee injury came. They won eight of the 12 matches in the Premier League during that time, drew two and lost two.

One of those defeats was a disappointing one at Everton but the other was against Manchester City. While that's a huge disappointment, it could just as easily have happened with Jesus on the pitch. Two draws were earned with Brentford and Newcastle.

Arsenal still beat Brighton, Tottenham, Man Utd and Aston Villa during the run of games without Jesus and things actually deteriorated upon his return to the team. He still scored goals on his return so that was a general deterioration rather than him upsetting a new system.

The Gunners made it through the third round of the FA Cup against Oxford United without Jesus, but were then knocked out by Man City in the next round.

LISTEN TO CHRONICLES OF A GOONER, 90MIN'S ARSENAL PODCAST

On this edition of The Chronicles of a Gooner, part of the 90min podcast network, Harry Symeou reacts to Arsenal's bid for David Raya and looks ahead to the Community Shield against Manchester City! If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!