Gabriel Jesus has won trophies with both teams in the FA Community Shield 2026, but he’s hoping Arsenal’s League title win is a springboard to more success.
He looks ahead to Sunday's game against Manchester City at the Principality Stadium.
So, thinking back to last season, and the day Manchester City drew with Bournemouth to enable Arsenal to lift the title. What do you remember of that day?
It was a nice day, one of the nicest I’ve had in my time at Arsenal. Watching that game together at the Arsenal training ground, everyone hoping that Bournemouth could draw or win, and then seeing everyone believing it could happen, everyone so happy… finding out we were champions of England. Obviously that’s when the celebrations started, everyone singing. Everyone enjoyed the moment, and we had worked so hard for that.
Seeing the celebrations in north London, what did it mean to the players to see the supporters celebrating like that?
It was amazing. The fans went with us to every game last season and they sang and really pushed the team. It has been a while since they have been able to celebrate winning the league, so to see them able to do that, and seeing people smiling and so happy, was unbelievable. Unforgettable moments. Seeing people singing and celebrating like crazy is a memory I’ll remember forever.
It was a first league title for Mikel Arteta as Arsenal coach, what do you think it meant to him?
I think it was great for him, for all the effort he has put in and all the changes he has made to the team, to the club, to the mentality. You could see from the beginning that he was changing the mentality and chemistry of the players, the team and the staff. He has demanded this of all of us. And now, on the first day of pre-season, he is demanding those same standards again, talking about football, tactics. You can see why he is elite and why he’ll win more.
As a team, how do you build on the success of last season?
The fact that we have won the league will help a lot. This group of players and the type of people we are, we all want to go and win again and again, and having that experience behind us now will help us. The feeling of winning is good, and something we all want to experience many times. We also have new players joining us who want to experience that winning feeling, so together that will push us on.
Looking ahead to the FA Community Shield, what would it mean getting your name on that first piece of silverware this season?
They are a very difficult team to play. I know them very well obviously after having been there for a few years. With a change of manager they’ll be a different team. They still have a lot of the same players, but I think the way they’ll play will be slightly different. They are a team that has won so much in the past but we want to start the season well by winning more trophies.
This match is being played in Cardiff this year, do you think that will make it a slightly different occasion?
I think so. All the time I have been here this game has been played at Wembley, so to play in another stadium in another city will be strange. For us, though, it doesn’t matter, the goal is the same and we’ll go there and try and win it.
Read the full interview in the FA Community Shield 2026 matchday programme. Purchase your copy here.
