Inside Gabriel Jesus training return as Arsenal ace to travel to Sporting CP Europa League clash
Arsenal have had plenty of exciting moments throughout the season, with Reiss Nelson’s last-second win over Bournemouth perhaps topping the list. However, with star striker Gabriel Jesus out injured, positive news is certainly in place for the Brazilian with a critical end to the upcoming season.
The Gunners’ players completed their final training session in England this morning before flying to Portugal this afternoon (Wednesday) for a game against Sporting CP in Lisbon tomorrow. With Eddie Nketiah injured after suffering an ankle problem, the urgency of Jesus’ return suddenly increased.
football.london was present at the session this morning and got a glimpse of Jesus in action. For a player whose whereabouts and training activity have remained relatively secret apart from his warm-up to Bournemouth and a few over-analyzed training pics, this was a great glimpse into his return.
READ MORE: Arsenal gave Gabriel Jesus an injury boost ahead of Sporting CP as the striker returned to training
Arsenal had posted pictures showing Gabriel Jesus working inside, with some pre-training discussions almost giving up hope that he would be involved. But the Brazilian strode out as if he had never been away, to the amazement of those on the touchline.
He said hello to me and the other members of the media before joining the rest of the group, which did not include Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney. After a brief warm-up, the coaches engaged the team in a casual game in which the players used mini softballs, but many in the group took the opportunity to toss them to each other (don’t pretend you didn’t either). .
But Jesus wasn’t just there to participate in fitness exercises. Mikel Arteta had the group involved in a possession and territory-based drill that saw the squad split into two teams attempting to get the ball from one end of the marked zone to the other.
The returnee was an active participant and showed how agile he is with numerous sprint actions, duels and duels. As can be seen in the footage below, he’s actually very handsome, although it remains to be seen if he’ll be involved in the Sporting game and Arteta will be wary of throwing him into the action.
Toward the end of the time we could observe the group, Jesus fell. While fighting for a ball, Jesus and one of the larger members of the group – wrapped in a scarf, a wool hat and warm-weather clothing – collided, making it almost impossible to decipher their identities from about 100 meters away.
Jesus fell to the ground with his arms outstretched as if calling for a foul, but jumped right back up and continued the exercises – a great show of confidence while still recovering.
There is an expectation that Jesus will travel to Portugal with the team today. Whether he will be involved remains to be seen, but game suggestions ahead of the international break could be too early based on today’s performance; excellent news for the Gunners and not so good news for their opponents.
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