Morning all.

Gabriel Jesus will miss the opening few weeks of the new season having had surgery on his knee yesterday morning.

Unfortunately, he had a little procedure this morning. He’s had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues so they had to go in. It’s not something major but he’s going to be out for a few weeks. It’s a big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona and he was in good condition but unfortunately we lost him. We had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as quick as possible. We decided to do it. – Mikel Arteta.

Arteta said the injury to Jesus hasn’t changed the plans for Flo Balogun which could mean he’s still being sold as rumoured, or, he was always set to stay in any case. Personally, I think a ‘few weeks’ for Jesus is optimistic. A couple of months is more likely so if it’s at all possible, why not just keep hold of Balogun, at least until January?  You look at the teams around us and their strikers, Haaland at City, Utd have just bought Rasmus Hojlund, Liverpool have Darwin Nunez and Chelsea have signed Nicolas Jackson and could be about to add Dusan Vlahović too – all are over 6’ tall. The only tall attacking player we have is the 6’ 4” Havertz and he’s not a striker. In fact the critics say that playing as the sole striker for Chelsea heavily contributed to his three year struggles in west London. Jesus 5’ 9”, Nketiah 5’ 11” and Balogun 5’ 10” – we’re lacking. Plus, I’d hardly say Jesus or Nketiah are prolific strikers. Admittedly, Arsenal scored a lot of goals last season but most of them came from our midfield/wingers.

We’ll miss Jesus as far as numbers go but I won’t miss his constant rolling around on the floor looking like he’s been seriously injured before jumping up seconds later after realising the referee wasn’t fooled his antics. Sounds harsh I know but he just frustrates the heck out of me.

The game against Monaco last night ended 1-1 after extra-time. Captain on the night Eddie Nketiah scored Arsenal’s only goal. Five penalties converted by the home team and one from the opposition saved by Ramsdale, meant we lifted The Emirates Cup once more.

Just like that, pre-season is over and the Community Shield is upon us.

I saw this on Sky Sports “paper talk”.

A column in German newspaper Bild has mocked Tottenham for not winning a title since “the Stone Age” and said Bayern Munich should not spend £85m on “old bone” Harry Kane.

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

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