Aaron Ramsey singled out Gabriel Jesus for special praise after Arsenal’s nervy 2-1 defeat of winless Wolves, saying it was great to see the forward produce a ‘good’ cameo performance.
Arsenal had appeared to be heading for a narrow 1-0 victory at home to bottom-of-the-table Wolves after Bukayo Saka’s corner went in off goalkeeper Sam Johnstone within the seventieth minute.
However the visitors had other ideas, with Tolu Arokodare heading home Mateus Mane’s pinpoint cross beyond David Raya to make all of it square within the fourth minute of stoppage time – the Nigerian’s first ever goal within the Premier League.
The Gunners dug deep, though, and were rewarded for his or her late efforts as Yerson Mosquera found the back of the web while attempting to head the ball clear to send the Emirates crowd into raptures.
The result saw Mikel Arteta’s side move five points clear at the highest before Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, which reduced the gap to only two points again.
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Arteta admitted Arsenal’s showing within the second half was ‘not acceptable’ for the extent he expects from his players and the north Londoners will little doubt be in search of an improved performance away to Everton next weekend.
‘These are the games that you must win if you need to be there or thereabouts at the tip of the season,’ ex-Arsenal midfielder Ramsey said of the competition on Premier League Productions.
‘Especially with Manchester City, who’ve been there persistently. Their experience, they’ve done it and also you’ve got them respiration down your neck as well.
‘It’s vital now to try to keep as much distance as you may between yourselves and them because they’ve type of shortened that gap a little bit bit now.
‘Sitting top at Christmas, you’d be blissful with that and hopefully there’s so much more to stay up for in the brand new yr.’
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Ramsey understood Arteta’s frustrations throughout the match and felt Arsenal put themselves under ‘unnecessary pressure’ by attempting to protect their lead after going 1-0 in front.
‘I feel it was a really honest assessment after the sport,’ the Wales captain added.
‘At the tip of the day, the three points is all that matters. But you need to have the opportunity to learn from these experiences that you just get throughout the season.
‘For them, as soon as they scored, they looked a bit edgy, like they were type of attempting to protect it and that just invited Wolves onto them, putting themselves under unnecessary pressure.
‘The ball comes out, the guy [Mane] has a free cross to place into the box and nobody really closes him down.
‘You would sense it, they were under pressure for 2, three, 4 minutes and Wolves did deserve that probably.’
Having come on against Club Brugge in midweek, Jesus made his first minutes of the Premier League season as he was brought on instead of Viktor Gyokeres, who had one other tough afternoon.
And the Brazil international – who has been sidelined with a serious knee injury – took his opportunity with each hands, battling hard with Mosquera and causing the Colombian to move Johnstone within the Wolves goal.
‘Sensible,’ Ramsey said of Jesus’ impressive return.
‘I do know probably the quantity of labor that he needed to put in to get back to where he’s now.
‘All of the repetitions within the gym, mentally really difficult. The exertions is paying off.
‘It’s great to see him back. He has a lot quality.’
Marquee summer signing Gyokeres fired one other blank for Arsenal before being taken off for Jesus within the closing stages.
It means Gyokeres has now gone five matches without scoring in all competitions and there was some criticism directed on the Sweden striker from the fanbase in recent weeks.
But Ramsey continues to be impressed by Gyokeres’ ‘work ethic’ and is confident the forward will come good sooner fairly than later.
Asked if he expected more from Gyokeres, Ramsey replied: ‘Yeah, you’ll’ve liked to have thought that, but I’ve been really impressed along with his movement.
‘His work ethic is good. I feel he offers so much within the front line, with the intensity that he plays at.
‘The goals will come and I’m sure that he’ll flourish for a few years there.
‘The essential thing, though, is that he keeps making those runs, and he keeps being a continuing threat in behind since the players behind him, there’s a lot quality to search out him or to slide him in.
‘He’s going to get probabilities.’
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