Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Can Tie It All Back Together

Arsenal’s win against Hull may look conclusive in score, but it really wasn’t. Granit Xhaka’s return should fix all of that, if he’s given the chance.

After two consecutive losses to see themselves pushed down and out of the title race, Arsenal desperately needed a return to form and they found it against Hull City. Or, at least they found it on the scoreboard.

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The match itself was not a pleasant one to watch. Between Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi we had enough frustration to go around.

I’ve actually found it incredibly hard to stay positive about the game. I’m thrilled that we won, but seeing such poor performances across the front four and back into Francis Coquelin just does not give me a warm and fuzzy going into the first leg against Bayern Munich.

We need something to tie everything back together. Someone who can provide a punch where there was once a weakness.

Given the title, you can guess what I’m alluding too.

One particularly frustrating weakness was that of Francis Coquelin. I cannot say enough how much I respect what he does, but it’s what he doesn’t that really strikes me as a weakness. His passing is terrible and lately, he has been getting shoved off the ball much more than I’d like to see.

Mohamed Elneny too, looked rather slow.

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Alex Oxalde-Chamberlain was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, and I can only hope that Wenger is seeing the same things (thought I doubt it). Going forward, Xhaka and the Ox (Xhox? Oxka?) needs to be the order of business. If the argument for starting Coquelin with Xhaka was to compensate for the Swiss’s lack of pace, then we have that solution in the Ox.

If the argument for starting Ramsey next to Xhaka was for the offensive push, then the same applies.

Similarly, if the Ox needs defensive reinforcement and a controlling presence, well, look no further.

What we would have there is Xhaka, who never gets caught too far forward, sprays the ball around and uses the full width of the pitch, and the Ox, who can push on the break, not hold play up, and truly bust up an opposing defense.

Anything else would be limiting to the potential of this midfield, and it’s hard to ignore that this midfield has been struggling a bit lately. They don’t have that control aspect down. They have looked a bit shabby and broken to pieces.

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Xhaka ties everything back together. Throw Danny Welbeck up front after that and I’ll have nothing left to harp about.