Arsenal enjoyed another brilliant weekend, claiming another three points and climbing back to the top of the Premier League table.
Mikel Arteta's side once again have their fate back in their own hands, although before they can think about Sunday's clash with Aston Villa, they'll have to deal with Bayern Munich in the Champions League tonight.
The Gunners were excellent against Brighton & Hove Albion, but the German behemoths are a whole nother kettle of fish, and, as such, Arteta should look to drop Gabriel Jesus if he wants to secure a first competitive win over the Bavarians since 2015.
GK – Petr Cech
RB – Hector Bellerin
CB – Laurent Koscielny
CB – Per Mertesacker
LB – Nacho Monreal
CM – Francis Coquelin
CM – Santi Cazorla
CAM – Mesut Ozil
RW – Aaron Ramsey
LW – Alexis Sanchez
ST – Theo Walcott
Gabriel Jesus' stats against Brighton
Now, the first thing to say is that while the Spaniard should look at dropping Jesus for tonight's blockbuster clash, it's not because he was terrible on Saturday afternoon, just underwhelming.
The former Manchester City ace was a thorn in the side of the Seagulls and even won the penalty that opened the scoring, but he also missed a number of gilt-edge chances and made a few poor decisions at critical moments, which could seriously cost the Gunners in a European knockout game.
It might sound harsh, but it's an opinion shared by the Standard's Simon Collings, who awarded the tricky forward a 6/10 on the day, writing that he 'should have come away from this with a goal' and that he 'missed two good headed chances in either half.'
This summary is also backed up by the 27-year-old's statistics from the game. In his 64 minutes of action, the 5 foot 9 ace registered an expected goal figure of 0.44, took one shot on target and two off target, succeeded in just one of his six attempted dribbles, won a penalty, missed one big chance, took 43 touches, was accurate in just 82% of his passes, lost nine of his 13 duels, and lost the ball 14 times.
Minutes
64
Expected Goals
0.44
Goals
0
Shots on Target
1
Shots off Target
2
Shots Blocked
1
Dribbles Attempted (Successful)
6 (1)
Penalties Won
1
Big Chances Missed
1
Touches
43
Accurate Passes
18/22 (82%)
Key Passes
1
Duels (Won)
13 (4)
Possession Lost
14
In all, while he was effective at creating space and harassing Brighton's defence, Jesus was unable to put away the myriad of chances that came his way.
This may well cost the team in tonight's high-pressure encounter, so he should be replaced by someone who was able to take his chance on Saturday.
Why Leandro Trossard must start vs Bayern
The man who must start in place of the Brazilian tonight is Belgian international Leandro Trossard.
Despite only coming on in the 64th minute against his former side on Saturday, the 29-year-old "wizard", as journalist Charlie Haffenden described him, made his mark on proceedings by running the length of the pitch to score a brilliant chip to secure all three points for the North Londoners.
The goal was the perfect encapsulation of what makes him great: an intelligent position to win the ball, a clever run so that Kai Havertz could find him in space, a great touch to knock the ball into more space, and an expertly placed chip to finish the outstanding move.
It's this lethal streak that means he has to start against FC Hollywood tonight, as chances will likely be harder to come by, and when they do come, it's better they fall to him than Jesus.
Appearances
37
28
Goals
12
8
Goals per Match
0.32
0.28
Moreover, it wasn't just Saturday that the £90k-per-week star has shown his finishing ability, as in his 37 appearances this season, he has scored 12 goals, whereas his Brazilian counterpart has scored eight goals in his 28 games this year.
Ultimately, based on the game at the Amex and their finishing throughout the season, Arteta must start Trossard over Jesus against Bayern Munich.
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