Gabriel Jesus will miss the start of the Premier League season after undergoing a minor surgical procedure on a knee injury that will sideline him for several weeks.
The Brazil striker missed Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Monaco in the Emirates Cup preseason friendly on Wednesday and will be unavailable for both the Community Shield and the Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest on August 12. Jesus missed three months of last season with a knee issue and Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta confirmed that the operation was related to an “irritation” from the previous intervention.
Speaking after the game against Monaco, Arteta said as quoted by the club’s official website: “Unfortunately, he has had a little procedure this morning, he had some discomfort in his knee that has been causing some issues and they had to go in and resolve it. It’s not something major, but he’s going to be out for a few weeks I think.”
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On whether it is a huge blow to the Gunners, Arteta explained: “Yeah, it’s a big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona, and he was in good condition, and we’ve lost him. He’s been feeling some discomfort in the last few weeks, we had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as quickly as possible, so we decided to do it.”
Arsenal are scheduled to face Man City in the Community Shield to open the season this weekend.