Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hails 'fighting spirit' of Gabriel Jesus - and highlights the one quality his team need to exploit from the striker

Mikel Arteta has backed the 'unbelievable' Gabriel Jesus to use his fighting spirit and give Arsenal a different attacking dimension ahead of his 100th club appearance.

The Brazilian striker has had a torrid year marked by injury, having only returned to the pitch earlier this month after being sidelined for 332 days with a torn ACL sustained against Manchester United in January.

On Thursday, the 28-year-old published an emotional open letter revealing his difficult mental journey during his recovery, saying, 'For me, a day without football is a terrible day… I had 300 bad days in a row'.

The Gunners face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday, a team Jesus has had much success facing - and could well be his first start since returning.

Last December, just weeks before his ACL injury, he struck a second-half hat-trick in the same competition against Palace, as well as two goals against the Eagles in a league match.

Arteta said: 'That's probably the biggest quality of Gabi: bringing people together, connecting with people and generating a lot of uncertainty in the opponent.

Mikel Arteta (left) has hailed Gabriel Jesus' return after almost a year out with an ACL injury

'When you see him today (against Everton), the amount of spaces that he was involved in, that's his biggest quality. So we need to exploit that.'

Reflecting upon the striker's journey from joining the north London club in July 2022 to playing 99 games thus far, he added: 'Well it's been a really intense journey I would say. When he joined us, he lifted the belief, the spirit and the energy of the club and the team. He gave something very different to what we already had, and it was really impressive.

'And then he had some very bad injuries that hasn't allowed him to have the consistency that we need from a very important player.

'But he's back. I think his fighting his spirit, he's decided to always prepare the best way. He's unbelievable and the team has got it (his spirit) now and we need to use it.'