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THE GIFT OF THE GAB!

Striker roars on home debut and Rodgers is so jealous

By Daniel Matthews AT THE EMIRATES STADIUM

SHORTLY after Gabriel Jesus’s opening goal, the first of four he scored or created on this recordbreaking afternoon, cameras inside the Emirates panned to the stands. There sat Edu, Arsenal’s technical director, struggling to hide the smirk on his face. These are the days that prove the importance of jobs like his. That show the value of smart, smooth transfer business.

We are still in August, granted, but already it feels hard to overstate the devastating impact of Jesus’s £45million arrival.

Never before had an Arsenal player scored twice on their home Premier League debut. Only once had someone netted two and assisted two in the same Premier League game for the club. And still Jesus was frustrated with his lot.

It mattered little — the Gunners’ perfect start to the season goes on thanks to another injection of quality and nous from new blood.

Oleksandr Zinchenko was also excellent, the £32million signing operating as both a left back and a creative midfielder in the same game. Fabio Vieira, signed for £34m, is still to come.

‘A big performance,’ Mikel Arteta said. ‘I’m delighted.’

Leicester, meanwhile, are paying the price for a barren summer. After Jesus’s first-half double, they were staring down the barrel. Brendan Rodgers’s men did threaten to nick something after the break — clawing the score back to 2-1 and 3-2 thanks to a couple of gifts from Arsenal. Beyond that, though, they were second best. Is it any wonder?

Until Friday, Leicester were the only club in Europe’s top five leagues not to make a senior summer signing. And what difference would former Cardiff goalkeeper Alex Smithies, picked up for free, have made here? Except, perhaps, to hold on to Ben White’s cross after 55 minutes. Instead, Danny Ward — starting following the departure of Kasper Schmeichel — dropped it at the feet of Jesus, who fed Granit Xhaka to make it 3-1.

That came moments after William Saliba’s own goal had halved Arsenal’s lead. The same pattern repeated itself later on, when Aaron Ramsdale allowed James Maddison’s shot to squeeze through his legs, only for Gabriel Martinelli to score Arsenal’s fourth within a minute. ‘Anyone can see today with Jesus that when you bring in a world-class player it’s not just what he brings to the team. It’s what a new signing gives to everyone else in terms of confidence,’ Rodgers said. ‘Zinchenko and Jesus are coming out of a winning environment where they look after themselves, train every day like dogs to be the best they can. That spills onto the rest of the team.’ Even the Leicester boss could see the uncomfortable contrast with his own squad.

‘That’s the thing you miss. It’s what a new player brings to the others. If you bring in quality it galvanises the others. You always look to recycle and improve the squad,’ Rodgers added.

The bleeding could yet get worse for Leicester, should Wesley Fofana join Chelsea and Youri Tielemans move here. ‘You’re going to play for the Arsenal,’ sang home supporters who rose to serenade the midfielder when he was substituted in the second half. News that Fofana had agreed personal terms with Chelsea emerged yesterday lunchtime. If that ended the defender’s hopes of a quiet afternoon, the opening exchanges at the Emirates only brightened the spotlight’s glare. Early on, he was at the heart of almost everything — at both ends.

Not least when, after just three minutes, the centre-back nipped in to rob Xhaka inside Arsenal territory. Fofana exchanged passes with Jamie Vardy and drove into the box, where he was denied only by Ramsdale. Arsenal soon took control and they should have led when Xhaka headed on to the post. But Jesus made sure Arteta’s side did not have to wait much longer to kick-start their season at home.

His first goal combined ingenuity with a dash of good fortune. Inside the area, from a standing start and with several defenders around him, Jesus sent a curling effort towards

the far corner. It found its home, with the help of a very slight deflection. Leicester had even more of a hand in his second. From an Arsenal corner Vardy flicked the ball towards the back post, where Jesus was waiting to finish.

It meant Jesus had taken 125 minutes to score as many nonpenalty Premier League goals as Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal’s previous No.9, managed during the whole of last season. After having a penalty award overturned, Leicester did cut the deficit. Twice. Twice they were fortunate. And twice they were charitable enough to hand back the initiative almost immediately.

First Saliba headed past his own goalkeeper from a long ball, before Ward fumbled White’s cross, allowing Xhaka to score.

Then after Maddison made it 3-2 with a near-post shot with 16 minutes to go, Martinelli re-established Arsenal’s advantage. From there, no more wobbles for the home side and Arteta praised Saliba for his response to the unfortunate misunderstanding with Ramsdale.

‘I’m more happy today than I was last week with Palace (when Saliba was man of the match) because of the way he played after that, it was incredible,’ said Arteta, who also saluted the crowd for backing the 21-year-old defender.

‘I’ve never seen anything like that in my career,’ he added. ‘We should be really proud to play in front of them because that was special. I think it lifted Willy’s confidence.’

ARSENAL (4-3-3): Ramsdale 5; White 7 (Tomiyasu 75min), Saliba 6.5, Gabriel 7, Zinchenko 8 (Tierney 77); Odegaard 7, Partey 7, Xhaka 7.5; Saka 7 (Smith Rowe 84), Jesus 9 (Nketiah 84), Martinelli 7.5. Booked: Tomiyasu. Subs (not used): Turner, Holding, Pepe, Lokonga, Elneny.

LEICESTER (3-5-1-1): Ward 5; Fofana 5.5, Evans 6, Amartey 6 (Daka 63, 6); Castagne 5, Tielemans 5 (Praet 63, 6), Ndidi 6.5, Dewsbury-Hall 6.5, Justin 5; Maddison 6.5; Vardy 6 (Iheanacho 70, 6). Booked: Fofana. Subs (not used): Iversen, Soyuncu, Albrighton, Perez, Mendy, Thomas.

Referee: D England (Merseyside) 7.

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2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

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