Jesus shines for Arsenal again to leave Rodgers feeling jealous

SHORTLY after Gabriel Jesus’ 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, the Gunners’ technical director, struggling to hide the smirk on his face. These are the afternoons that prove the importance of jobs like his.

We are still in August, granted, but already it feels hard to overstate the devastating impact of Jesus’ £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 the forward was frustrated with his lot.

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

Oleksandr Zinchenko was also excellent, the £32m 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,’ manager Mikel Arteta said. ‘I’m delighted.’

Leicester, meanwhile, are paying the price for a barren summer. After Jesus’ first-half double, they were staring down the barrel.

Brendan Rodgers’ side 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 make a senior summer signing. And what difference would ex-Cardiff goalkeeper Alex Smithies, picked up for free, have made here? Except, perhaps, to hold on to Ben White’s cross on 55 minutes.

Instead, Danny Ward — starting following the departure of Kasper Schmeichel — dropped it at the feet of Jesus (below), who fed Granit Xhaka for 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,’ conceded Rodgers.

‘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 on to 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,’ added Rodgers.

Arsenal quickly took control and they should have led when Xhaka headed on to the post. But Jesus ensured Arteta’s side didn’t 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 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.

The striker then did brilliantly to turn Jonny Evans on the edge of the box, only for Wilfred Ndidi’s last-ditch challenge to deny him.

Then a neat move involving Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard, Martinelli and Jesus ended with the No9 through on goal. Ward thwarted him this time.

But just as Arsenal threatened to kill this game, a lifeline arrived for Leicester. Jamie Vardy chased a ball in behind, Ramsdale met him, the striker went down. Penalty. Briefly, anyway. Replays showed referee Darren England that there was no contact and the decision was overturned.

In the second half, Leicester did cut the deficit. Twice. Twice they were fortunate. Twice they handed 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.

And then after Maddison made it 3-2 with 16 minutes to go, Martinelli made sure of the three points.