Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus ‘unlikely’ to travel to Portugal for Europa League tie
Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus is unlikely to travel with the rest of the squad to Portugal for their Europa League tie on Thursday.
A report from Football London has given an update on the fitness of Arsenal’s forwards.
Gabriel Jesus hasn’t played a minute of competitive football since suffering a serious injury at the World Cup in November.
The Brazilian was a key member of Mikel Arteta’s team, and revolutionised their style-of-play.
However, Eddie Nketiah initially stepped up expertly in his place when the Premier League resumed.
Although the goals dried up for the young Englishman, Arsenal’s other forwards have picked up the slack.
The arrival of Leandro Trossard in January looks like a brilliant piece of business, although he also hobbled over against Bournemouth.
He looks more likely to feature on Thursday than Jesus, as the Arsenal star looks unlikely to travel to Portugal.
However, the ‘phenomenal’ forward is nearer a return to action after being spotted at The Emirates on Saturday.
Arsenal star Jesus unlikely to travel for Europa League game
The report from Football London states that, ‘Gabriel Jesus is also unlikely to be able to travel to Portugal as he continues to recover from a knee injury, although the club have not entirely ruled out the possibility.
‘The Brazilian was spotted doing a cool down with Arsenal’s unused subs after the Bournemouth game.’
Gabriel Jesus has been in training in the past week, which is hugely encouraging.
He was spotted lurking behind Bukayo Saka in some of the training pictures released by the club which caused plenty of excitement among Arsenal fans.
Arsenal have a dozen league games left to overcome in their quest to win a remarkable Premier League title.
Being able to welcome back a fully fit Jesus before the campaign ends would be a huge boost.
The Europa League feels like a sub-plot at this point, and it will be interesting to see what team Arteta decides to put out.
However, it now looks unlikely that Jesus will travel with the rest of the Arsenal squad to make up the numbers.
It could mean several of the Gunners’ exciting academy players are called upon to step up against Sporting CP.
