Arsenal’s Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus returned to action on Sunday in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Manchester United after missing the first two weeks of the new season due to knee surgery during the pre-season. The surgery was done on the same knee he injured during the World Cup last December, which saw him miss four months at the start of the year.

His return towards the end of the season saw him return to fine scoring form that he carried over into the pre-season. His injury gave Eddie Nketiah the opportunity to start the Gunners’s first four games with three wins and a draw, with the English man scoring two goals in four games.

He played 75 minutes against United before making way for the Brazilian, who went on to wrap up Arsenal’s impressive victory with a superb solo goal deep into additional time. The 26-year-old Brazilian international said he felt killed scoring the goal after a challenging period during the holidays.

“I’m feeling good. It’s tough when you come back [to an] injury after a holiday, I started to feel my knee again, it was unlucky. After pre-season, you go again, but you feel in pain. I made the decision to do surgery as quickly as possible to come back stronger. It was tough, but now I’m getting back. It’s so important to find the rhythm again. So, I’m back, I feel good, and I’m happy. At the end of last season, I was completely fine; I felt nothing. Then I went on holiday and felt nothing when I came back, in the first week, still nothing. Then, after that, I started to feel it.” Gabriel said.

The striker will hope to continue where he stopped when Arsenal return to action after the international break with a game away to Everton.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu