Ferdinand says Gabriel Jesus remains Arsenal’s most important player

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Rio Ferdinand has told his YouTube channel that Gabriel Jesus remains Arsenal’s most important player, but he now needs to score more goals after failing to find the back of the net against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

The Gunners were scintillating in the second-half at the Emirates as they won 5-0. Reiss Nelson scored twice, while Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard all got on the scoresheet.

Jesus set up two of the goals. But he may be a little frustrated that he did not manage to find the back of the net himself.

Jesus remains Arsenal’s most important player – but needs to score more

Remarkably, Jesus has now gone seven games without a goal in all competitions. His last strike came in the North London derby back at the start of October.

He has 10 goal involvements in the Premier League, but has only found the back of the net five times.

And Ferdinand believes that his lack of goals more recently is the only criticism which can be levelled at the 25-year-old.

“You know what though? I listened to your manager the other day before this game and he said that: ‘we need our strikers scoring if we’re going to be successful. We need them to score’. That’s a fact,” he told his YouTube channel.

“Listen, I still believe he’s your most important player by the way. Without him in your team, you’re not the same team. But he just needs to add goals now. Can’t criticise anything else he’s doing.”

Arteta will have mixed feelings about Jesus’ form. There are likely to be plenty of Arsenal fans who agree with Ferdinand’s view that he is the most important player.

But he has probably not been as prolific as he should have been. In fact, FBRef suggests he has an expected goals tally of 6.8 so far this season. Only six players are performing worse against their own expected goals number.

Not having a prolific striker came back to haunt Arsenal in the final stages of the top-four race last season.

However, Jesus brings so much to the side. Only Kevin De Bruyne has contributed more assists in the Premier League so far this term.

He has also helped set the standard having arrived from a club which has been winning trophies over the last few years.

Perhaps he could score more often. But there is no question that his signing has been a game-changer for the Gunners.