With the arrival of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City, Eddie Nketiah was expected to take the role of a second striker in the squad.
However, the two seem to have struck a budding partnership in pre-season.
With their shared celebrations, the two have linked up well multiple times so far, including goals against 1. FC Nurnberg and Orlando City.
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Mikel Arteta's system appears sure to be set up with two wingers and one striker, however, could the seemingly natural chemistry between Nketiah and Jesus convince the Spaniard to alter it?
For a period in Arsenal's pre-season friendly against Orlando City, Nketiah adopted the left-wing position with Jesus through the middle.
However, the two would intermittently drift between both positions. Both were in the middle for Nketiah's goal. The Englishman came inside to support the attack and latched onto the loose ball to score after good work from Jesus.
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Interestingly, both players do have- experience on the wing. Jesus played both wing positions for Manchester City regularly, a lot of his goal contributions coming from those positions. Nketiah has less experience in those positions, but undoubtedly has the assets to play there.
The striker has developed a deadly turn of pace and is very much capable of beating his man.
With the signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arteta's system seems to perfectly support this idea also.
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Zinchenko is a midfielder by trade but a player with extensive experience at left-back, having played there for Manchester City.
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A possible line-up including both strikers could look like this when attacking. Kieran Tierney, when fit, is a left-back who loves to push up the pitch and get involved in attacking situations. His overlap would allow Nketiah to come inside and form a pair with Jesus.
Zinchenko would be able to cover for the Scot as he pushed forward.
Another obvious bonus that would come of pairing the two together would be the press.
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Jesus was described by Pep Guardiola as the 'best in the world' at pressing from the front, something Arsenal fans have already experienced in pre-season. And Nketiah is by no means a slouch in the pressing department either.
The young striker has scored 23 competitive senior goals for Arsenal so far. Five of them have come directly as a result of the intensity of his press.
Goals against Southampton and Leeds came from tackles on the goalkeeper. One against Dundalk came from a tackle on a defender. Another against Leeds and one against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge came from loose back-passes.
Nketiah does not give a moment to opposition defenders or even goalkeepers. The thought of both Jesus and Nketiah in the same team is likely enough to force many teams to resort to kicking it long.
Without wanting to state the obvious, the two carry a big goal threat also.
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Nketiah is starting to find his goal-scoring form at senior level now, scoring five goals in seven starts to close out Arsenal's Premier League season. However, he has always been a consistent goal-scorer at youth level and will undoubtedly produce a good return if given the game-time.
Jesus surprisingly doesn't have the strongest goal-scoring statistics, underperforming his expected goals in all of his Premier League seasons at Manchester City. However, Jesus' strength comes in his movement. He is constantly in the right positions, meaning he is often on the end of chances.
The benefits of a successive, sustained starting role for Jesus should prove to be invaluable. While always a key player for Pep Guardiola, Jesus has never had a consistent starting role in his team.
The Brazilian's finest goal-scoring season came in 2019/2020, when he netted 14 league goals. Coincidently, this was the season in which Jesus made his most Premier League appearances. Even then, the forward only made 21 starts.
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At Arsenal, barring injury, Jesus is likely to start at least 30 Premier League games, which will benefit him massively, giving him the consistency and routine to thrive.
After Arsenal's 3-5 win over Nurnberg, a game in which Jesus and Nketiah linked up well, Jesus had the following to say on his fellow striker:
"It was so good to play with Eddie."
"We’re both together and make short passes that’s good. Two strikers there is a little bit different. We have a lot of qualities and it was so good to play with him."
It's clear the two already have a good understanding of each other's game. Not only do they connect with the ball, but in their celebrations too. Both have a signature 'dialing the phone' celebration and have already combined the two.
In what looks to be a developing friendship off the pitch, a very exciting partnership is developing on it too.
With two pre-season games left until the start of the new season, the possibility of both lining up on the team sheet against Crystal Palace is a hell of a lot more realistic than it seemed just a few weeks ago.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Arsenal, Manchester City, Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah
