'He's still class': Pundit says you simply can't write £45m Arsenal player off just yet
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Arsenal beat Southampton 3-1 at the weekend, but their victory wasn't as straightforward as the scoreline may suggest.
Indeed, Arsenal went 1-0 down to the Saints early on in that game, and for large periods, they struggled in an attacking sense.
Arsenal rotated in the attack against Southampton, and it's fair to say that experiment didn't work as the likes of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus failed to make an impact.
Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke has been discussing Jesus's performance and the discussion around the Brazilian.
Clarke did concede that Jesus wasn't at his best this weekend, but he still maintains that it's too early to write the striker off.
Gabriel Jesus shouldn't be written off
Clarke shared his verdict on the £45m man and his future at Arsenal.
"A lot of fans online are quite keen to write his obituary and say that we have moved past Gabriel Jesus," Clarke said.
"I think that is massively premature. Yes, Havertz is a fantastic centre-forward, but there's always room for a chaos-maker like Gabriel Jesus.
"The instinctive brilliance he has flourishes when you're relaxed and at ease, but he can't feel that when he's played so little football.
"He has a fight on his hands, but I wouldn't write Jesus off yet, he's still class."
What Mikel Arteta said about Gabriel Jesus in pre-season
Gabriel Jesus has struggled for form for 18 months now, but his manager still has faith in him.
During pre-season, Mikel Arteta noted how Jesus looked sharper than he had previously.
"I said from day one, the first feeling when I saw him after talking to him at the end of the season is that he was something different. I could sense it," Arteta said.
"His energy was different, the way he looks is different, the way he's moving is different. He really wants it. Now it's about finding that consistency and doing it in any context, against any opponent, against any formation, any day, every three days, for 90 minutes, for 30 minutes, for 70 minutes."
Unfortunately for Jesus, that work in pre-season hasn't been rewarded with regular starts, but, with Kai Havertz in such brilliant form, it's hard to justify starting the Brazilian.
Regardless of his current form and lack of goals, Jesus is still very much a proven commodity at this level, and after winning four league titles with Manchester City, he's a proven winner.
Jesus still has a big part to play at Arsenal this season.
