Premier League legend Alan Shearer has noted that a brilliant Arsenal player is frustrated despite the 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk
Alan Shearer believes Gabriel Jesus will be “frustrated” after failing to end his goal drought during Arsenal narrow 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Despite dominating early on, the Gunners had to rely on an own goal by Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk to secure the three points.
Arsenal took the lead in the first half when Gabriel Martinelli’s shot hit the post and ricocheted off Riznyk into the net. At that point, it appeared the Gunners would cruise to a comfortable win, but Shakhtar put up a strong fight, forcing Arsenal to dig deep for the result.
Mikel Arteta’s side, still recovering from their first loss of the season to Bournemouth, struggled to break down Shakhtar and had to withstand several periods of pressure from the Ukrainian side.
Arsenal missed the chance to extend their lead 15 minutes from time when Leandro Trossard squandered a penalty, awarded for a soft handball.
While Arsenal added three more points to their tally, making it two wins and a draw from their opening Champions League fixtures, former England striker Shearer was not impressed with the performance.
He singled out Jesus, who was substituted with 25 minutes remaining after missing two clear opportunities to end his 23-game goal drought.
As Jesus made way for Raheem Sterling, Shearer, who was co-commentating for Amazon Prime, remarked, “He had the chances, didn’t he? He had a couple of really good chances. He will be frustrated this evening because he’s been given the opportunity, and they created opportunities, two of them fell to him, and he failed to put them away.”
Shearer further criticised Arsenal’s overall display, despite acknowledging the importance of the win. “It hasn’t been great from Arsenal, but they got the win, and it’s another clean sheet. Looking at the big picture, two wins and a draw is a positive start to their Champions League campaign.
They’ve taken the points, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s all that matters. But the performance wasn’t a good one. Shakhtar can be very proud because they gave Arsenal a scare.”
