Arsenal legend Ian Wright has given out strong praise to Gunners striker Gabriel Jesus in a recent interview and implied that he should start more games for them.

While Wright expressed his admiration for Eddie Nketiah, saying that the former Leeds United loanee ‘worked his socks off’ against Manchester City, he believes that Jesus is the superior player.

What did Ian Wright say about Gabriel Jesus?

Speaking on the Wrighty’s House podcast, Wright mused: “I did like [Gabriel] Jesus on the right there, he caused them a lot of problems, he’s wriggly, what we need.

“It’s a situation where the only thing with Eddie [Nketiah], I thought he worked his socks off and it’s very tough. Against Manchester City, your chances are few and far between. If you do get one, you’ve got to make sure you do the very best you can with it.

“At the very least you’ve got to do a lot of running the other way, a lot of that kind of stuff. And I think that it maybe took its toll on him in this game and he’ll probably be feeling a little bit disappointed simply because he didn’t get too many chances. He did a lot of work and he got taken off in the end.”

Should Gabriel Jesus start over Eddie Nketiah for Arsenal?

Nketiah’s work rate in the Premier League is admirable – he always puts in a massive shift and does whatever he can to make life difficult for opposition defenders.

With that being said, he is clearly a less capable forward than Jesus. Not only is Jesus a more technically sound player, he also possesses superior movement and finishing – two integral traits of a striker.

Last season, Jesus scored 11 goals and notched up eight assists in 33 games – Nketiah, on the other hand, scored nine goals and collected three assists in 39 appearances.

On the evidence of this, not only is Jesus a better goalscorer than Nketiah, he is also superior from a creative standpoint. Nketiah is still a stellar backup option, but he should not be starting ahead of Jesus when the Brazilian is fit.