Arsenal have been treated to plenty of exciting moments throughout the season, with Reiss Nelson’s last-second winner against Bournemouth perhaps at the top of the pile. However, with star striker Gabriel Jesus out injured, positive news surrounding the Brazilian with a critical end of the season to come is certainly up there.
The Gunners players went out for their final training session in England this morning before flying out to Portugal this afternoon (Wednesday) to face Sporting CP in Lisbon tomorrow. With Eddie Nketiah out injured after suffering an ankle problem, the return of Jesus suddenly had even greater urgency.
football.london was in attendance for this morning’s session and got an inside look at Jesus in action. For a player whose whereabouts and training activity have remained relatively secretive barring his post-Bournemouth warm-down and a couple of over-analysed training pictures, this was a great insight into where he is regarding his return.
READ MORE: Arsenal handed Gabriel Jesus injury boost ahead of Sporting CP as striker returns to training
Arsenal had posted images showing Gabriel Jesus working inside, with some pre-training discussions almost giving up hope he’d be involved. Yet, the Brazilian strode out like he’d never been away, to the amazement of those watching on the sidelines.
He said ‘Hello’ to me and the other members of the media before joining up with the rest of the group which did not include Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney. After a brief warm-up, the coaches got the team involved in a casual game where players were using miniature softballs but many of the group took the chance to throw them at one another (don’t act like you wouldn’t have either).
But, Jesus was not only there to take part in fitness drills. Mikel Arteta had the group involved in a possession and territory-based drill which saw the squad split into two teams trying to progress the ball from one end of the marked zone to the other.
The returning striker was an active participant and showed off how mobile he is with numerous sprinting actions, tackles and duels. As shown in the below footage he’s looking very good indeed, although whether he will be involved in the game against Sporting remains to be seen and Arteta will be cautious about throwing him into the action.
Towards the end of the time we were able to watch the group, Jesus took a tumble. In challenging for a ball, Jesus and one of the taller members of the group - wrapped up in a snood, woolly hat and full warm weather clothing, making it near-impossible to decipher their identity from about 100 yards away - collided.
Jesus went to the ground, arms outstretched as if calling for a foul, but bounded straight back up and continued the drills - a great sign of his confidence despite still being in recovery.
There’s an expectation Jesus will travel with the squad to Portugal today. Whether he will be involved, however, remains to be seen but suggestions games before the international break will come too soon might be wide of the mark if today’s output is anything to go by; excellent news for the Gunners and not-so-good news for their opponents.
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