Earlier this season Mikel Arteta had said that " Big games are for big players," but Gabriel Jesus fails to feature in the starting lineup against Liverpool due to an injury.
Jesus has only played in fifty percent of the available minutes for arsenal since he joined.
Gabriel Jesus was fully fit during the Nottingham forest match on last Tuesday night as he managed to score to earn his team three points clear which made it 2-1 at Emirates Stadium.
Jesus moved with Arsenal for their meeting with Liverpool five days later, pictured walking around the stadium but he was not included in the starting lineup.
"Unfortunately, he had a setback in training and wasn't fit to play," Arteta told Sky Sports ahead of kick-off. When pushed on whether the same problematic knee was bothering Jesus, the tight-lipped manager offered: "Yes, it's something relating to that. Unfortunately, he's not fit."
Arteta was cheerful about Jesus that he didn't get any crucial injury.
"Hopefully not [long term]. I think it's a short-term thing but the game was too fast [soon] for him."
Fascinatingly, Arteta did not play Nketiah in Gabriel Jesus' position but instead played Kai Havertz through the middle as he did in their previous FA Cup match against Liverpool in they were defeated 0-2.
The Gunners managed to earn three points from Liverpool by scoring three goals through their attacking threat players Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard but Liverpool failed to score for themselves as Gabriel Magalhaes made it an own goal for them unconvincingly making it 3-1.
Liverpool also benched their targetless striker Darwin Nunez due to his doubtful injury as their manager Jürgen Klopp played Cody Gakpo in his place.
The long term injuried Spaniard midfielder Thiago Alcantara as seen sitting alongside Darwin Nunez among the substitutes despite the fact it was his first time to feature in the Premier League squad since April.
