Gabriel Jesus, who opened his campaign with a goal against Manchester United, feels that he is reaping the rewards of having a full preseason.
Arsenal’s first win in their preseason tour was secured when the Brazilian striker tucked in a precise delivery from Ethan Nwaneri to cancel out Rasmus Hojlund’s opening goal. This allowed his countryman Gabriel Martinelli to score the winner late in the second half.
Jesus is already feeling in good shape and his confidence rising as he looks to reach his peak when the Premier League season begins in three weeks.
Jesus happy with pre-season form so far
Speaking after the match, he said: “My last pre-season was not good because I was feeling my knee, so I had to have surgery and missed all of the pre-season. So, I was trying to force it during that pre-season, but at the end I couldn’t and had surgery”.
“That was a little bit difficult after to come back, but this season is different. I could enjoy my holidays and then I trained a lot, and I was focused to come back well and do a good pre-season. Now I’m in different shape and can play football again.”
A win over Manchester United is always something to be pleased about, and this one at SoFi Stadium will be one of them for Arsenal fans, especially after the comeback fashion to steal the victory.
Gabby was pleased with the effort he and his teammates made to change the outcome and demonstrate that, despite the friendly nature of the match, they were keen to win and start gaining momentum.
Analysing the game, he added: “It’s always difficult when you concede first. We came back and won the game, so that’s the most important thing. It shows that our team tried to win in any contest. Everyone today deserved [to win], I think we deserved the win, and it was a good performance from the team”.
“It’s a derby, it’s a difficult game, it’s a Premier League game, they have a lot of quality and it’s tough. At the end, we won, that’s the most important thing. Obviously, we are preparing for the season, so I think everyone is happy today.”
The Gunners increased their record to two victories from two in SoFi Stadium following their victory over Barcelona last year.
Arsenal had another memorable occasion playing in their sister club, LA Rams, in Los Angeles.
The Arsenal striker wasn’t blind to the fantastic atmosphere: “It was amazing like last year. It’s a different pitch, it’s a different stadium and they don’t play football here”.
“It wasn’t new for us because we played here last year, but it was difficult. We have to try to win in any context, because football is like this, you have to try to win and that’s what we did.”
