Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta reveals how the Gunners beat Tottenham to the signing of Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has explained how the Gunners defeated arch-rivals Tottenham this summer with the signature of Gabriel Jesus.

The Brazilian came from Manchester City this summer for £45million and has excelled since his arrival in the Emirates.

Jesus has scored four goals and added three assists in just seven Premier League games, making a huge difference to Arsenal’s frontline.

He was linked with several clubs over the summer, including Chelsea and Spurs, and, ahead of Saturday’s derby in north London, Arteta opened up how the Gunners could secure his signature.

“Edu had a talk with him to express and project and what the club is about,” the Spaniard told his pre-match press conference.

He explained what role he would have at the club. I spoke to him then, so it was a team effort and he clearly understood what we wanted to do.

“The relationship with him (Edu was general coordinator of the Brazilian national team from 2016-2019) helped because we had that confidence and then the decision was up to him.”

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta explained how the club defeated several rivals to sign the attacker

Spurs boss Antonio Conte was also interested in signing Jesus over the summer

Arteta also gave his full support to the attacker after he missed Brazil’s most recent roster.

The Gunners trio of Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes were all left out by Brazilian coach Tite during the international match as they sent off Ghana and Tunisia 3-0 and 5-1 respectively.

Tottenham forward Richarlison was the front-line favorite for the national team, scoring three goals in the two games.

Jesus will face his rival on Saturday and Arteta explained how he lifted him up after being left out of the national team.

He said: ‘I understand how they feel about how it has affected them and how we can help them.

“They just have to put their head down and take it on the chin, try to play at the level he’s playing to make it even harder to let him out.”

Arteta, meanwhile, kept tight-lipped about Arsenal’s injury news ahead of Saturday’s crucial derby in north London.

Jesus was left out of Brazil’s most recent roster in favor of Tottenham striker Richarlison

In the absence of Jesus, Richarlison scored three times in two games while leading

He declined to reveal whether any of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney or Thomas Partey would miss the match in the Emirates.

“They are part of the team,” was all Arteta said on Friday.

“We just finished the last training session, we had a lot of players who arrived yesterday, we had a short period to prepare for the game, but the guys are looking good.”

Partey returned early from international service after sustaining a knee injury for Ghana, while Zinchenko suffered a calf injury and Tierney is expected to be fit despite being forced out in Scotland’s 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League.

Arteta also insisted he wasn’t worried about throwing William Saliba in his first North London derby against Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

“No, this is football and Willy has shown what he is capable of in recent months. I don’t doubt him,” Arteta added.