Arsenal’s fine festive form continued as they hammered Aston Villa on Tuesday, and now Micah Richards has suggested there is one player within the squad who is going to win them the title.
Mikel Arteta’s side dismantled a woeful Villa team at the Emirates as a frustrated Unai Emery endured a miserable return to his former workplace.
The Gunners once again shared the goalscoring load as well, as Gabriel, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus all netted.
Indeed, it is that strength in depth and distribution that is helping Arsenal tick along nicely.
And of those four aforementioned goal scorers, former Man City ace Micah Richards believes there is one in that quartet who is going to prove decisive.
Micah Richards names Arsenal’s difference-maker in the title race
With Arsenal taking multiple transfer windows to build what seems like the perfect title-winning squad, it does now seem like it’s now or never for Mikel Arteta.
New signings like Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie have made a huge difference.
However, it is one of Arteta’s first big name signings, Gabriel Jesus, who Micah Richards believes is going to get them over the line.
“I thought the substitution of Jesus as well, he’s just, he looks sharp again. He could be the difference between Arsenal winning a league and not. We’ve talked about Manchester City so much, but the squad, the strength and depth for Arsenal is just ridiculous,” Richards commented.
Going into the specifics of what Jesus brings to the table, Richards suggested the Brazilian could be the difference maker in the title race.
“With Jesus, obviously, I watched him a lot when he was at Man City and he never really was the main man, but he does so many things for the team that maybe go unnoticed,” Richards continued.
“So his work rate for one, his press, his ability to make his own chances, even though he’s not clinical at times. When he first went to Arsenal, he was unbelievable.
“He was unbelievable. He was unplayable at times. Then he got his injury and when he come back, he wasn’t the same.
“He got another injury and then he came back. He’s just finding his feet. But now with different options and not having to rely on him for the full 90 minutes as the main man, now you’ve got Havertz, now you’ve got Gyokeres.
“So he can manage his minutes and get the best out of him in the time that is required for when he’s on the pitch. And that’s why I think he could be the difference. I think he’s got a little bit more quality.”
Gabriel Jesus’ record since signing for Arsenal
Many believe Arsenal landed a steal when they paid a £45m fee to Man City for Gabriel Jesus back in the summer of 2022.
On paper, he looked like the missing piece of the jigsaw but as we saw at City, his progress and form has been hampered by injuries and fitness problems.
Still, as Richards says in his comments here, the Brazilian has all the talent in the world to help this Arsenal team and without the pressure of being the ‘main man’ in attack, he can impact games at his own pace.
In terms of his record at Arsenal, Jesus has contributed, with 26 goals and 20 assists coming in his 100 appearances for the club so far.
Still, with it now getting to crunch time in the season, Arsenal need Jesus to remain fit and firing, and ultimately, he’ll only ever be seen as a huge success if Arsenal do get that title win in the bag.
