Gabriel Jesus has insisted he is not thinking about the World Cup as he accepted his share of the blame for Arsenal ’s winning streak stopping at Southampton.
But the Brazil striker vowed that he will quickly refind his scoring boots and he urged Gunners fans to stay “calm”. The £45m summer signing scored five goals in eight games after his arrival at the Emirates but has now gone five games without a goal.
The former Manchester City star missed three big chances at St Mary’s as the Saints fought from behind to salvage a draw. Mikel Arteta’s team remain two points clear of City at the top of the table with three games left before the World Cup break - and six games in all.
Brazil are favourites to win the title in Qatar for the first time since 2002 - and the expectation back at home is huge. But asked if the World Cup was already on the minds of the Arsenal players, Jesus said: “The only thing I know is I have to do my job here. I have to focus here and then, if they (Brazil) call me, I go and focus when the time is in the World Cup - not now.
“Now I am focusing on here, Arsenal, my club. I think everyone has to realise the World Cup is not yet. We have to focus here. I don’t think people are thinking about the World Cup. I think we dropped a little bit our level, with and without the ball. So that’s going to happen sometimes. We are young and I am still young as well. So we have to be more focused sometimes.
"We created a lot(against Southampton) but we did not finish well. I put myself in that of course, because I had some chances. I could have scored one or two - and then we win the game. Sometimes football is like this. We create, we play well, but you don’t score, you don’t win the games. It’s hard, it’s difficult, it hurts, but we have to realise and wake up and improve and come back.”
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Jesus last found the net in the North London derby win on October 1 and could not explain his barren spell. “I don’t know, I really don’t know,” he said. “If I knew, I would tell you! But the only thing I can do is keep trying, keep fighting, keep improving. I am here to score goals, I am here to help the team with the goals. I understand that. Of course, the goals are coming back soon.”
Arsenal dropped points for only the second time this season and now travel to PSV Eindhoven on Thursday seeking a fifth Europa League victory to win Group A.
“We are trying to do our best to win the games, to win as many as possible before the World Cup,” Jesus added. “Then after we come back strong again. So I think we have dropped our level a little bit. We started this season amazing and now we have dropped. I think we can increase the level again, everyone as a team and as an individual.
"We have to concentrate more, focus more, be more aggressive with the ball, without the ball. I think we go home today a little bit upset because the way we play we could score more goals, and then win the game.
“Everyone is a little bit upset in the dressing room because we know we could win the game, get the three points (against Southampton). I think they played well, but we were better than them.
“Now is the time, you know everyone is going to talk about us, about our performance, I just want to say to the team to be calm. We are going to come back strong, play our football, like we started the season, and everything is coming back to normal.”
