Gabriel Jesus Is Now The Most Picked Player In Fantasy Premier League History

Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has been selected by 72.5 per cent of Fantasy Premier League managers ahead of the new season.

Jesus joined the Gunners from Manchester City in a £45 million deal last month and he will be their focal point in attack.

The Brazil international has scored seven goals in pre-season, including a hat-trick in Saturday's 6-0 thrashing of Sevilla.

It's seen the FPL community jump at the chance to snap up Jesus, who is one of five forwards to cost £8 million starting out.

That's significantly cheaper than Harry Kane and Erling Haaland who will set you back £11.5 million as well as Cristiano Ronaldo who is £10.5 million.

Nearly three quarters of FPL managers are gambling on the 25-year-old producing the goods and that is the highest player ownership in history.

The most popular picks in other positions are goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and winger Mohamed Salah. It's worth noting that Jesus' ownership rating has gone up by one per cent since the tweet below was posted.

The most-selected players by position:

🧤 Edouard Mendy - 22.0%
⛔️ Trent Alexander-Arnold - 57.3%
✨ Mo Salah - 59.1%
🎯 Gabriel Jesus - 71.5%

Are any of them *not* in your #FPL squad at the moment? pic.twitter.com/2FiGEe9GNS

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 2, 2022

If you're wondering who the other four strikers to cost £8 million are, they're Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Roberto Firmino. Choose wisely.

Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League last season and it means they're back in the Europa League.

In addition to Jesus, they've signed Oleksandr Zinchenko, also from Manchester City, plus Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos and Matt Turner.

They kick-off the campaign away to Crystal Palace on Friday night and it's a fixture that caused them trouble back in April.

A 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park saw Arsenal go on a dismal run and bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur capitalised to finish in the top four.

Arteta insists his side will be prepared when all the action gets underway.

He said in a press conference. "We have shared the minutes across the team in the best possible way. We had another game on Wednesday at Colney, and everybody needs to fit, because things can still happen from here until Friday.

"Everybody needs to be available and at their best to give the right performance.

"We are really excited for the season. We know that Friday night is going to be a very different game, with a different context and atmosphere. We have to prepare really well for that."