Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has explained how the Gunners beat arch-rivals Tottenham to the signature of Gabriel Jesus this summer.

The Brazilian joined the club from Manchester City for £45m this summer and has excelled since arriving at the Emirates.

Jesus has scored four times and added three assists in just seven Premier League games and made a huge difference to the Arsenal front-line.

He was linked with several clubs in the summer including Chelsea and Spurs and, speaking ahead of Saturday’s north London derby, Arteta opened up on how the Gunners were able to secure his signature.

‘Edu had a talk with him to express and project and what the club is about,’ the Spaniard told his pre-match press conference.

‘He explained the role he would have at the club. I then spoke to him so it was a team effort and he clearly understood what we wanted to do.

‘The relationship with him (Edu was general coordinator of the Brazil national team from 2016-2019) helped because we had that trust and then the decision was up to him.’

Arteta also gave his full backing to the forward after he missed out on the most recent Brazil squad.

The Gunners trio of Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes were all left out by Brazil coach Tite during the international break, with Selecao dispatching Ghana and Tunisia 3-0 and 5-1 respectively.

Tottenham forward Richarlison was preferred up front for the national team and scored three times across the two games.

Jesus will go head-to-head with his rival for the No 9 shirt on Saturday and Arteta explained how he has picked him up after being omitted from the national team.

He said: ‘I understand how they are feeling how it has hit them and how can we help them. They just have to put their head down and take it on the chin, try and play at the level he’s been playing at to make it even harder to leave him out.’

Arteta meanwhile kept tight-lipped on Arsenal’s injury news ahead of Saturday’s crucial north London derby.

He refused to reveal whether any of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney or Thomas Partey would miss the match at the Emirates.

‘They are part of the team,’ was all Arteta would reveal on Friday.

‘We just finished the last training session, we had many players arriving yesterday we had a short period to prepare the match but the boys look in good condition.’

Partey returned early from international duty after picking up a knee injury with Ghana, while Zinchenko has been battling a calf injury and Tierney is expected to be fit after being forced off during Scotland’s 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League.

Arteta also insisted he had no concerns throwing William Saliba into his first north London derby against Harry Kane and Son Heung-min..

‘No, this is football and Willy has shown what he’s capable of in the past few months. I have no doubts on him,’ Arteta added.