As thousands of people flock to Bristol to see the contentious work of Banksy, the graffiti artist may have struck in the city once again.

A controversial piece of stencil art has appeared near Ashton Gate depicting Jesus, being crucified, wearing a Bristol City home shirt. To the bottom right of the image is the word "religion".

The graffiti was first noticed on Monday and is on a wall next to Bar BS3 on Ashton Road, which is very popular with City fans on match days.

Although there is no Banksy tag on the image, the landlord of the pub thinks there are several signs pointing to Bristol's notorious street artist, who did a piece called Christ With Shopping Bags a few years ago.

Banksy, who has a record-breaking exhibition at the City Museum and Gallery, is reported to be a Bristol City fan.

And some believe when his Mild Mild West mural in Stokes Croft and his work on Park Street were splattered with blue paint in June, rival Bristol Rovers fans may have been to blame.

Now, less than a week before Bristol City's first home game of the season against Crystal Palace, the image has appeared in the football club's heartland.

BS3 landlord and Robins' season ticket holder Rob Jones said: "It just appeared overnight. It does look like a Banksy and he's meant to be a City fan. He is known for creating with quite controversial messages and Jesus in a Bristol City shirt is certainly controversial. The timing is very interesting too, what with the first home game on Saturday. I quite like it and I would imagine come match day, when we'll have 1,000 fans in here, everyone will be talking about it."

The new graffiti has been painted on the Signmarket building next to the pub.

Signmarket's owner Paul Delaney, also a season ticket holder at Ashton Gate, says he has no intention of getting the mural removed.

"Too right I'm going to leave it up there," he said. "And it's true, football is like a religion to a lot of people."

Whether it is a genuine Banksy or not, die-hard Bristol City fans, especially those with a mischievous sense of humour, are unlikely to care.