London : Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hopes that Gabriel Jesus’ experience of regularly winning trophies at Manchester City will rub off on his new teammates.
Jesus makes his competitive debut for the Gunners at Crystal Palace on Friday night after a summer move from City, where he won four Premier League titles among eight major trophies.
The Brazilian forward joined the Gunners for more game time as he aims to make the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
He has whetted Arsenal fans’ appetite by scoring seven times in pre-season.
“When you bring top players from top clubs and they’ve been extremely successful over the years, there is expectation,” said Arteta at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“The role that Gabi has here is going to be very different to the role that Gabi had in his previous club.
“He’s a tremendous talent with a mentality that is so contagious and he’s going to give us a lot, but it’s a team at the end of the day.”
Arteta has also recruited Oleksandr Zinchenko from City, while the additions of Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos, Matt Turner and the return of William Saliba from a loan spell at Marseille have bulked up the Arsenal squad.
Expectations of finishing in the Premier League top four for the first time in seven years have been lifted by thrashings of Chelsea and Sevilla in pre-season.
But Arteta knows those results will count for little if his side do not make a positive start at Selhurst Park, where they lost 3-0 last season.
“We are all enthusiastic. We had the pre-season we wanted, it was well organised, we had good results, good preparation and good performances,” added the Spaniard.
“But now the ball starts to roll tomorrow evening in a completely different context and against a Premier League team and we know what to expect there.”
