When we signed Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, I commented whether they had developed the man strength needed to be a Premier League regular.

Man strength is what you gain over the years of being a man without hitting the gym. It is years of working onsite, or whatever, and it leads to a natural gain on your physical strength over the years.

In football terms, man strength is built by playing week in, week out from your teenage years. That slowly builds a players physical ability, their stamina, resilience and recovery.

The likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bukayo Saka have built that man strength from playing regular football at the highest level from their teenage years into their early 20s.

During this development period, Jesus and Zinchenko spent a lot of time on the bench for Manchester City. They became victims of Pep’s rotation system and this resulted in them reaching 25 without having ever been a first team Premier League regular.

Both now suffer injury after injury, and I think a big reason for that is due to not playing enough during their early years in England. Neither built the natural resilience needed to start 40+ games a season.

Gabriel Jesus joined us 18 months ago. A key reason for his move was to be a regular week in week out striker, rather than back up and cover down the middle and outwide.

Since joining, he has spent 5 spells in the treatment room, missing over 30 games for The Arsenal.

Jesus turns 27 in April and there has been a lot of talk about us needing to sign a new striker.

In the past, I have said a new forward signing needs to be someone who can play upfront, covering Jesus, and play on the wingers covering Martinelli and Saka. Versatile cover for all 3 forward positions.

I now think that Jesus is the man to play that role.

We go out and buy another top striker and Jesus then becomes the alternative option that he was at Man City. He is the quality back up and completion for the new centre forward , whilst also providing an alternative to Martinelli and Saka outwide.

Jesus would be able to rotate into any of those three positions, allowing us to rest someone without losing quality. He would also make a tremendous option coming in off the bench.

I believe that Martinelli is a 60 minute player. He puts so much energy into his game that after the hour mark, he is blowing on fumes. Imagine bringing on Jesus for Martinelli after an hour. Or leaving him on the bench whilst Jesus start!

Jesus will not be happy with this new role. It is the same role that he had at Manchester City. But his injury issues have changed the narrative. It can no longer be someone to back up Jesus that we need to sign, it is someone who can play ahead of Jesus.

And if in 18 months time, Jesus is unhappy about being a squad player, the door is open for him to leave.

He will be 28, so Arsenal will still get a good feee for him, and he might find playing in Spain with their less physical game more suitable to his fragile body.

These are the big decisions Mikel Arteta needs to take to make us even more competitive.

Keenos

Jamie Carragher is paid millions by Sky Sports to be an “expert” pundit. Due to his role in the media, he has amassed 2.2m followers on Twitter.

The boyhood Everton fan turned Liverpool continually uses his platform with Sky to try and influence future decisions in favour of his own team.

During the Liverpool League Cup win, Carragher continually went in about how Arsenal line up for set pieces, and post game he RT’d fans comments on the matter.

Arsenal have been unbelievable at set pieces this season. It has been a huge weapon for us and with XX Premier League goals, we lead the charts.

By spreading misinformation and fake news, Carragher is trying to derail Arsenal. He is attempting to influence the way officials ref Arsenal at set pieces.

Against West Ham, we lined up with four players in an offside position. This is a common tactics used by many clubs, including Liverpool.

The idea is that defenders become distracted by those on the offside position and end up dropping deeper to cover them off.

Whilst the defence drop deeper, the players in an offside position usually step up, and by the time the ball is kicked they are all inside. This is what happened against West Ham (and an image that Carragher has not shared).

You can quite clearly see that by the time Declan Rice has taken the free kick, every Arsenal player is onside. They have also forced the West Ham players 10 yards deeper.

No offside was given as none existed. It is fairly simple.

So why is Jamie Carragher during to make out that Arsenal are officiated differently to Liverpool and others?

In that League Cup final, Endo was in an offside position when the ball was kicked. He then proceeded to hold the Chelsea defender who was best positioned to clear the ball ahead of Virgil van Dijk. It was the right decision

Was Endo in an offside position? YES. Did he interfere with play? YES.

The key difference for Arsenal is that when Rice kicks the ball, every player is in an onside position.

No you could debate whether all blocking, etc at set pieces should be blown up as a foul for either side. But this is a minefield and every team, including Liverpool, tries to block opponents runs either doing too much to giveaway a free kick.

The key difference this time is Endo got it wrong. He did not get himself onside before proceeding to block the Chelsea runner.

As a very good pundit (which Carragher is) and a defender who played over 750 games, he knows the laws of the game, and would have defended thousands of corners in his time.

He will know about blocking opponents runs, about how to stay onside, and about lining up with players who are offside before they get themselves onside when the ball is kicked. These are not new tactics. Carragher himself would have orchestrated them when playing.

The only reason I can see for Carragher trying to make Liverpool’s disallowed goal about Arsenal, and spreading misinformation about us, is because he wants to derail our title challenge.

I have no issue with a pundit providing a fair and balanced criticism – point out when decisions got for and against your team. But I do have an issue when Carragher cleary uses his influence to try and manipulate future refereeing decisions against a team rivalling his club for the title.

Sunday was like watching Scouse TV with the way Carragher screeched on. This was a few days after Sky announced price increases up to 20%. We do not pay for this shit and it is no surprise they are losing subscribers on a monthly basis.

Carragher gets spitting mad when he is angry. How a man who assaulted a 14-year-old got is allowed on TV is beyond me. It is time for Sky to tell him to shut up or go and join Keys and Gray in Dubai.

Keenos

Last week I blogged about how winners look forward after a defeat, and how losers dwell in the past. The way we bounced back from the disappointing result in Portugal shows that we are ready for this title race.

Our detractors will keep writing us off, labelling our World Class players as average, and so on. We just need to keep doing our thing and focusing on the next game.

One sign of world class player is that even when they are having a quiet game, they still have an influence. Bukayo Saka did against Newcastle what Mohamed Salah has been doing for Liverpool over the years.

I have lost count how often Salah has had a very quiet game, only for him to pop up with a goal or an assist. It is the same with Kevin de Bruyne. With Sergio Aguero. With Thierry Henry. Still being able to affect the game in a positive way when you’re not having your best game.

Saka did have a quiet game against Newcastle. They double and trebeled up on him, but he still found space to cut in side and roll it into the bottom corner.

Mo Salah aside, I do not think there is a better left winger in the world than Saka. Regardless of what Rio Ferdinand says, our Star Boy is world class.

16 goals has made this season his best goal scoring one to date – and we still have at least 14 games left. You would be very disappointed if Saka did not reach 20. With 7 assists, he is also the 6th best creator in the Premier League. He is a constant threat.

Another one growing into his skin as the season goes on is Kai Havertz.

His goal against Newcastle takes him up to 7 for the season. The German is back playing with a smile and now seems comfortable amongst his team mates. The depression caused by Chelsea is long gone.

Still only 24, Havertz will have a long and successful career at The Arsenal.

The post match interview with the pair showed just how together the team is.

Kai Havertz & Bukayo Saka’s post-match interview with @footballontnt in full. 🎤 #afc pic.twitter.com/MLoIwuVRPE

— afcstuff (@afcstuff) February 24, 2024

When the interviewer was fishing for Saka to praise himself and show an ego, he had the intelligence to swivel the question and praise his team mates.

We may or may not win the title this season, but most of us have never demanded that we need to be champions.

During those later Wenger years, all we wanted was a team that played for the shirt and competed for the title. 2 points off top and we are doing just that.

We just need to keep looking forward. Keep focusing on the next game. And keep making winning a habit!

UTA

Keenos