Gabriel Jesus’ likely return match for Arsenal after encouraging fitness update
Following yet another positive update on Gabriel Jesus’s recovery from knee surgery, Arsenal supporters will be counting down the days until he is available for selection.
The £45 million signing from Manchester City last summer has been sidelined since the beginning of December after suffering medial ligament damage while playing for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The injury was worse than initially feared, necessitating surgery, which was ultimately successful.
In the weeks since undergoing surgery, the 25-year-old has kept Arsenal fans updated on his recovery.
Most recently, Instagram footage from the forward’s personal trainer, Andre Cunha, shows him running on grass.
With Jesus seemingly close to rejoining the senior squad in full training, naturally the discussion amongst Arsenal supporters is centered on when the striker will return to action to aid the club’s pursuit of winning the Premier League title in May.
There are several indicators of the Brazilian’s return date.
The first is what he told former UFC Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov following the 3-2 victory over Manchester United two weeks ago, stating that he hoped to return to action within “four to five weeks.”
A timeline for this would be either the penultimate weekend of this month, when Arsenal face Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on the road, or the following weekend, when the north London club travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City.
At the time of Jesus’ comments, he had been out of surgery for just under seven weeks, so he is on track to return to full training by the end of the month, as predicted by medical expert Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT.
“Return timeline after MCL surgery is typically 10-12 weeks,” he wrote on Twitter. “Ligament heals quite well due to robust blood supply. Granit Xhaka was back in 70 days & would’ve been sooner if not for the accompanying fracture as well. True timeline will be wait and see.”
Given Mikel Arteta’s cautious approach with players returning from long-term injuries, it is possible that Jesus will not be considered for selection until March, when the Gunners face Everton, Bournemouth, Fulham, and Crystal Palace in the Premier League, as well as an undetermined round of 16 Europa League opponent.
Given that Reiss Nelson has returned to training following a hamstring injury and that Emile Smith Rowe’s thigh strain is not believed to be serious, once Jesus is fully fit, Mohamed Elneny will be the only long-term absentee. Arteta’s side is attempting to compete on two fronts, so having a nearly fully-fit first-team roster is a dream scenario.
Gabriel Jesus’ likely return match for Arsenal after encouraging fitness update
