Gabriel Jesus has revealed that Arsenal teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko ‘wants to kill him’ after a dig about his Premier League title contributions - or lack thereof.
The Gunners duo are currently embroiled in a battle to claim yet another English top-flight success. The pair lifted the trophy on four separate occasions during their stints with Manchester City.
Having completed moves to the Emirates Stadium during the summer, both Jesus and Zinchenko have played roles with Arsenal currently sitting eight points clear at the top of the Premier League. Opening up on the pair’s relationship, Brazilian forward Jesus has revealed that the Ukrainian is among the jokers of the pack in North London.
The camaraderie between the duo goes as far as them teasing each other about their contributions to each other’s Premier League successes under Pep Guardiola. Speaking to Footballers Lives on TikTok, Jesus said: “I think Alex [Zinchenko] is the king of joking.
“All the time he just jokes with someone. One day he was like saying things you know, joking like ‘ah, I won four Premier Leagues you know and then the last one I give to you’
“He says ‘that last one, last season, I came on against Villa, we were 2-0 down’. He came on and honestly he changed a little bit the game you know because he received the ball, attack and he gave an assist.
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“He just said that ‘I gave you one trophy, one Premier League, because of me, you have four’. I said ‘listen, okay, I accept that but in four Premier Leagues, you only start 20 games’. He wants to kill me.”
Upon sealing a move to Arsenal, Zinchenko opened up on his close relationship with his Brazilian teammate and indicated his role in tempting him to also join the Gunners.
Speaking at the time, he said: “To be honest, we are close to each other and I love him so much. He’s my big friend and I would like to say that he was also involved in the discussion and all these things.
“He told me about the good things about this amazing club and this atmosphere and about the guys and everyone here so I’m really impressed and so happy.”
Despite Jesus’ teasing of his teammate, it’s actually the Brazilian who has contributed less this season. Due to a long spell on the sidelines through injury, he has made 17 Premier League appearances this term, scoring seven goals in the process.
Meanwhile, Zinchenko has appeared on 22 occasions in the league this term - his only goal of the campaign coming in the dramatic 4-2 victory against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
