Gabriel Jesus had a night to remember when Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-1 on matchday 19 of the Premier League season.
2025 wasn’t a good year for the Brazilian, who suffered an ACL injury in January, only to return in December to end the year on a high.
In Arsenal’s final game of the calendar year, Jesus scored a tremendous goal against Aston Villa to remind the Emirates of his quality.
Jesus is considered to be one of the most skilful players in the Arsenal squad, which we saw against Villa, as the 28-year-old came on and scored within 55 seconds.
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Reports in Brazil think Gabriel Jesus’ goal could be the start of his World Cup bid
The return of Mikel Arteta’s 2022 signing couldn’t have come at a better time, as Jesus makes Arsenal better, and the squad needs to up their game in front of goal.
It’s not just joyous timing for the Gunners, but for Jesus too, whose goal against the Villans might’ve stood for so much more than merely Arsenal’s fourth of the night.
Writing for Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense, journalist Marcos Paulo Lima reacted to Jesus’ goal, exploring what it could mean ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Lima noted that within seconds of coming on the pitch, the striker showed two qualities that Carlo Ancelotti is demanding, ‘movement and collective football’.
Considering that Ancelotti has openly admitted that Brazil need a striker, there’s always been a distant hope that Jesus could make the cut, a distance that shrank considerably against Villa.
The most poignant part of Lima’s piece was that he described the significance of Jesus’ goal against Villa as the ‘weight of two’ in Ancelotti’s eyes, doubling its importance.
Jesus has already proven that his transfer decision was right
Jesus has already been to two World Cups with Brazil, but has only made eight appearances and has yet to experience scoring at the tournament.
The striker’s goal against Villa could symbolise the start of significant change in his career, which only emphasises how right he was when speaking about his future at Arsenal.
How many goals will Gabriel Jesus score from now until the end of the season? Will he outscore Viktor Gyokeres?
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Jesus was linked to Palmeiras, his boyhood club in Brazil, but while the Verdao were keen, it was understood that the former Manchester City star had different ideas.
Amid links, Jesus made it clear that he wanted to stay at Arsenal, stressing that he had a role to play in the remainder of the season, which he’s already proving right.
A strong season at Arsenal leading into the summer could grant Jesus’ ticket to the World Cup, which would be a truly tremendous turnaround of fortune for the incredible centre-forward.
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