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Gabriel Jesus believes Arsenal will come back stronger after seeing their perfect start to the Premier League campaign halted by Manchester United on Sunday.
Arsenal dominated for long periods but were unable to win their first six games of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1947-48, as Marcus Rashford followed up Antony’s debut goal with a second-half brace to clinch a 3-1 win for the Red Devils.
The Gunners, who briefly got back on level terms through Bukayo Saka on the hour mark, have now won just one of their last 16 Premier League games at Old Trafford (five draws, 10 losses).
But Arsenal remain top of the early Premier League standings, and Jesus believes they will take valuable lessons from the reverse.
“The feeling is frustration because we play, we control the game and [before] the first two goals we concede, we were better than the opponent – and then we just concede,” he said.
“But now is the time to learn from it and improve. We are doing so well this season but there are still things to improve for everyone, as individuals and as a team.
“Everyone is together and we stick together until the end.
“We came to play against a strong opponent and it’s always hard, it’s the Premier League.
“So we are not happy because, in my opinion, we could win because we played so much better. But that’s football, they have quality as well and then if you don’t go there and kill, you are going to have a big problem – and that’s what happened.”
Remarkably, given Jesus has now faced United in 10 Premier League games, the Red Devils are one of just three sides he has faced in the competition but not scored against, alongside Cardiff City and Brentford.
With Mikel Arteta leading Arsenal’s youthful side to the club’s joint-best Premier League start since 2004-05, when they took 16 points from their first six outings (also getting 15 points in 2013-14), Jesus believes they will still improve further.
“If you look at our team, you can see we are still young. It is the youngest team in the league, in the toughest league of the world,” he added.
“We are playing so good and then we play against an opponent, who is young as well, but we have to learn from it.
“We have to stick together and improve as a team and don’t think about this one. This one is gone, no one is perfect. No team in the world is perfect and we have to play to try to score and don’t concede.
“That’s football and we are doing this, but sometimes the opponent has quality as well. They come and they can score. Now it is our challenge to improve a lot of things, and come back strong.”
Arsenal travel to FC Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday before hosting Everton in the Premier League three days later.
