Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has a big decision to make ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea: Viktor Gyokeres or Gabriel Jesus?
The Gunners face their London rivals on Wednesday night and it’s unclear who will start up front between £64million summer signing Gyokeres and Jesus, who recently returned from a lengthy knee injury.
Gyokeres v Jesus: per 90 Prem stats in 25/26
- Goal involvements: Gyokeres 0.35 – 0.71 Jesus
- Expected goals: 0.45 – 0.36
- Touches in attacking penalty area: 5.94 – 11.4
- Successful take-ons: 0.35 – 2.14
- Dispossessed: 1.05 – 3.57
- Aerial duel won %: 34.6 – 16.7
Gyokeres has scored just five Premier League goals since joining Arsenal from Sporting CP for £64m last summer, drawing a blank in 15 top-flight matches.
He has also only scored in one of his four Champions League appearances in 2025/26 and could soon find himself out of Arteta’s starting XI, with Jesus impressing and Kai Havertz now back from injury.
Havertz came off the bench in Sunday’s FA Cup win at Portsmouth and is still some way off being able to start for the Gunners, but Jesus looks ready to establish himself as Arteta’s first-choice striker ahead of Gyokeres.
Managing Jesus’ minutes will be important, though. Gyokeres is well rested after being an unused substitute at Fratton Park, which could give him the edge over the Brazilian at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
However, Arteta’s team selection in the Premier League is a much greater indication of where players sit in the pecking order, and if Gyokeres starts against Chelsea, there’s a strong chance Jesus will start against Nottingham Forest in the league this weekend.
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‘Passenger’ Gyokeres behind Arsenal rival in striker pecking order
We reckon Gyokeres will start against Liam Rosenior’s side, but also believe Jesus is the better option right now.
Arsenal expert Charles Watts agrees, believing Jesus deserves to start over the Swedish international because he is “much more involved”.
Watts also asked, “What’s the point of him being on the pitch at times?” and labelled Gyokeres a “passenger”.
“Jesus was good against Portsmouth,” Watts told Sports Mole. “He had a difficult first 20 minutes but then grew into it. Arsenal were much, much better when Jesus started to get into the game. The assist was brilliant, but it was some really nice stuff towards the end of the first half.
“He’s just so much more involved than Gyokeres. We all want Gyokeres to be a success – we all hoped he was going to be this guy who’s going to score 20, 25 goals a season – but we’re just not seeing any evidence that that’s going to happen.
“When he’s on the pitch, he’s just a passenger. He’s not involved, not getting any touches. What’s the point of him being on the pitch at times? Hopefully this is just a bad little spell, because he’s getting worse. You’d hope as the season progresses, he adjusts and it would get better, but it’s going the other way. And that’s the worry.
“I want to say I want to see Jesus start, but if Jesus starts on Wednesday, that means Gyokeres starts on Saturday, and I want Jesus to start in the Premier League. It’s a really difficult one to answer, but we’re at a tipping point with Gyokeres.
“He’s had to play loads because we haven’t had any other options, but now the options are there and we have to be realistic. As much as it’s frustrating that Gyokeres hasn’t clicked into gear, Arsenal are going to be a bigger threat with Gabriel Jesus, because he’s going to be more involved.”
Arsenal can accept a draw at Chelsea on Wednesday
On the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Chelsea, Watts claimed a draw would be a good result for the Gunners.
He said: “You’d want to win, but if you get a draw away from home and come back to the Emirates level pegging, you’re probably going to take that. But they’ll certainly try to win.
“They weren’t great in the game a few weeks ago, it was an opportunity missed given. Arsenal want to win this game and it would be very nice if you can get a 2-0, come back and ease the pressure in the second leg. But it’s going to be a difficult game, it’s another new manager bounce situation – Rosenior’s first game at home.
“A good start, against Charlton, the crowd are going to be up for it. Arsenal are just going to have to deal with that. They went out in this stage of the competition last season – they were awful, especially in the second leg, but the first leg could have gone another way if they’d taken a chance.
“They’ll want to put that right this time around, they won’t want a similar situation. Hopefully they can feed off the pain of last season and put things right.”
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