Gabriel Jesus continued his white-hot preseason form as he scored a hat trick in Arsenal’s 6-0 victory over Sevilla in the Emirates Cup on Saturday.
The Emirates Stadium rippled with applause in the ninth minute in tribute of Jose Antonio Reyes. Reyes, a former player of both Arsenal and Sevilla died in 2019.
Just a minute after the moving tribute, Arsenal fans were again on their feet as Bukayo Saka opened the scoring, sending Bono the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Summer signing Jesus swiftly followed with two goals in two minutes — first sweeping home a loose ball in the box after Bono’s fumble, and later pouncing on Gabriel Martinelli‘s deep cross after a perfectly-timed run in behind Sevilla’s backline.
Saka scored his second and Arsenal’s fourth 19 minutes in, when he latched on Bono’s poor clearance and fired home, between the 31-year-old goalkeeper’s legs.
And Jesus, who now has seven goals in his five preseason outings, continued the scoring 13 minutes from time — he bundled home Arsenal’s fifth after Martinelli’s corner wasn’t dealt with.
Substitute Eddie Nketiah rounded off the onslaught a minute before the game’s conclusion, after being teed up by the newly announced captain Martin Odegaard.
After his first game as fixed captain of the club, Odegaard said: “Of course I was happy, proud and grateful for the trust and for him wanting me to be the captain. That’s a big achievement for me and it’s nice to be part of such a good team, so I’m going to enjoy that.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “He represents the values of this football club, of his teammates, of the staff. He’s respected by everyone inside the club. I’m proud to announce him as captain.”