Arsenal vs Chelsea: And That Is Why Granit Xhaka Was Bought

Arsenal was bullied by Chelsea in a major title bout, and most of that happened in the midfield. Which, by the way, is exactly why we have Granit Xhaka.

In case you missed it, Arsenal had the life sucked out of them by our dearly beloved rivals, Chelsea. The Gunners witnessed some serious let downs from major players like Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, Alexis Sanchez, Laurent Koscielny and… well, I really don’t want to list the entire team.

Related: 5 Things We Learned Against Chelsea

Through it all there was one big theme, and they even highlighted it in the pregame. Ozil, the Ox and Coquelin had to use their numerical advantage to overpower Matic and Kante.

That was the objective. But the exact opposite happened. While Ox was by far not one of the guiltiest parties, Coq and Ozil were up there on the guild charts. They were massively disappointing and allowed the Chelsea midfield duo to run all over them.

It was all highlighted when Coquelin was tossed off of wee little Eden Hazard as though he was a rag doll. Although, that’s not exactly being fair to the rag doll.

This is exactly the reason why Granit Xhaka was purchased. Earlier in the week I highlighted how Xhaka was missed against Watford and we saw it again against Chelsea. Xhaka has the control that the Gunners could not find. He has the scope to stretch play and the strength not to get thrown off of anyone.

In short, Granit Xhaka is making a stronger case for his immediate return than Coquelin is making for his own stay. And Coquelin is playing and Xhaka obviously not.

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It’s so frustrating to see the same players doing the same things in the same situations. Why this defense was so exposed through the middle is baffling. Out wide, sure, Chelsea had the numbers and the talent.

But most of the attacks came straight down the Gunners gullets and they were unable to stifle the flow. The center backs felt completely abandoned and the midfielders were nowhere to be found.

Granit Xhaka prevents that. He is never going to get irreparably forward, he is never going to be seen tossed around. He may make a stupid tackle every so often, but honestly I’ll take that over what we saw against Chelsea. Maybe that stupid tackle would have taken out Hazard and prevented the most embarrassing of defensive holes.

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Get Xhaka back. Drop Coquelin. That is, if control is the aim, which given the mass of midfielders used, it probably is.