Fate and Jesus probably shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence in a football column.

Least of all when discussing Arsenal’s chances of becoming English Premier League (EPL) champions.

But Brazilian striker, Gabriel Jesus, is key to the Londoners’ prospects of pulling off something of a miracle.

Currently injured, Jesus’s £45 million capture from Manchester City was seen as crucial to the Gunners’ aim of a top four place.

After a five-year absence from the Champions League, it would seem like the Promised Land.

But with last season’s horror start and late wobble not forgotten, dethroning City wasn’t even on the agenda.

Enter Jesus whose intervention lifted everyone and made it possible.

His ability to hold the ball, create chances for others and inspirational presence were the main reasons for the Gunners’ flying start.

Brazilian to his bootlaces, his sheer class and ebullience more than made up even when his goals tally didn’t quite live up to expectations.

People wondered if City boss Pep Guardiola had done Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, his former disciple, a favour with the modest asking price.

Especially when he let him have the versatile and talented Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko for just £30m as well.

There’s no sentiment in football, and it was obvious that Pep, bolstered by the arrival of Norway’s Erling Haaland, didn’t consider Arsenal a threat.

Such was the Catalan’s confidence in the Viking hitman that he also let Raheem Sterling go to Chelsea.

But at the halfway mark in the season, Arsenal are not only a threat, but they are also favourites for the title.

And this is with Jesus missing for three months with a knee injury and Haaland not even the best Norwegian player in the league.

Talk about fate!

Martin Odegaard, skipper and midfield orchestrator, is also in the running for player of the year and showed why in a masterly display against Tottenham last weekend.

The outclassing of the neighbours suggested that Jesus’s knee injury, sustained while playing for Brazil in the World Cup, may not be the death knell to Arsenal’s title aspirations after all.

Jesus was the talisman, and the club hierarchy, sensing they would never have a better chance of winning the league, sanctioned an expensive replacement.

Mykhailo Mudryk, of Shakhtar Donetsk, already on the wanted list, was made a priority in this month’s transfer window.

The 21-year-old “Ukrainian Neymar” would not have been a like-for-like stand-in but fits the mould of top young guns that Arteta is seeking.

The player himself appeared keen, even endearing himself to the fan base by mentioning former Arsenal legends whose boots he’d be “honoured” to fill.

But it was all to no avail when Chelsea, spending even more lavishly than under Roman Abramovich, swooped with an offer his club couldn’t refuse.

Shakhtar’s owner is even donating a quarter of the £88m fee to the Ukrainian war effort.

Enough, you feel, to have given the Russian – had he still owned Chelsea – a case for buyer’s remorse.

Arsenal winced at being gazumped, but are now wondering if they should keep their chequebook closed.

With Odegaard steering the ship and home-grown Eddie Nketiah ably filling Jesus’s shoes, the side is looking more like champions with every game.

While City are prone to the odd slip and even Haaland has drawn the occasional blank, Arsenal have wavered only once.

That was back in September to Manchester United whom they host at half past midnight (Monday 12.30am in Malaysia).

The Devils have lost only once in 20 matches in all competitions but will be without star midfielder Casemiro who picked up a fifth yellow card against Crystal Palace.

We will get to know more about both teams in what promises to be the biggest collision of the two since the peak of the Ferguson-Wenger era two decades ago.

But even more decisive will be Arsenal’s clashes with the other team from Manchester.

Thanks to the autumn fixture being postponed because of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the two have yet to meet this season.

City will be banking on getting at least four points from the two encounters (February 16 at The Emirates and April 27 at The Etihad) or they may leave themselves with too much to do.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Jesus may now be back to face his old club in only one of those matches.

This week we saw the Brazilian with a ball at his feet but Arteta said he’s still some way from resuming training.

At least Emile Smith-Rowe is back to full fitness for the first time since the Old Trafford defeat.

The way the young guns have stepped up – especially Odegaard and Nketiah – Arsenal have shown a consistency that has eluded Guardiola’s men.

City’s recent Carabao Cup loss to Southampton, in which they didn’t have a shot on target, was abject.

Even with Haaland, they’re not as fluid as they were last season and still have to get their money’s worth out of £100m Jack Grealish.

Indeed, there’s a growing case for saying they were better two years ago – without either of them!

Arsenal would not say the same of Jesus who they may still need to ensure they finish the season as well as they started it.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.