Mikel Arteta tactic that Pep Guardiola highlighted could be why Gabriel Jesus is struggling

A resurfaced clip of Pep Guardiola discussing tactics may shed light on why Gabriel Jesus has been finding it tough at Arsenal recently.

The Manchester City manager appeared on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football show after his team secured the Premier League title in 2018. There, he delved into a strategy that Mikel Arteta, his then-assistant manager, had been instilling in City's forwards.

Guardiola explained that teams who overly depend on their centre forward to secure victories tend to lose a significant number of points. He then pointed out that in his squad, every attacking player is expected to contribute goals, reports the Mirror.

"Mikel Arteta helped [our attackers] to make a lot of actions here [towards the box], [it's usually] one against and one," Guardiola told Gary Neville. "We always tell the winger, when you control the ball and your shape is good, go, go! It doesn't matter if you lose the ball. Ultimately, if they have the quality to dribble they should utilise it."

The Spanish coach added: "It's crucial for a team to not solely rely on the striker to score goals, but also for the wingers to be able to score goals and provide assists. When you have that, you will win many games. If you only focus on the striker to score a goal, you will drop points."

Jesus, who made the switch from City to Arsenal in 2022, has been grappling with a lack of form and goals this season, having only found the back of the net four times in 26 Premier League appearances.

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Despite being brought in to bolster the Gunners' attacking options, he's been overshadowed by the likes of Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz, who are all wingers and who have all been consistently on target.

Since returning from injury in February, the Brazilian has mostly been confined to the bench, fuelling rumours that he could be on his way out in the summer, as Arsenal reportedly eye potential moves for Ivan Toney and Viktor Gyokeres.

In total, Jesus has bagged 19 goals in 68 appearances for the North London side. While not a disastrous tally, his goals-per-game ratio (0.28) is significantly lower than during his six-year tenure at the Etihad Stadium (0.40), where he scored 95 goals in 236 matches, despite often playing second fiddle to Sergio Aguero.