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Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Not Here To Defend His Honor Against Kante
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal will be facing Chelsea in a match that will have severe title implications. And Granit Xhaka isn’t even here to defend his honor against N’Golo Kante.
Arsenal’s showdown with Chelsea is going to be ripe with headlines and talking points. That goes without saying.
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Diego Costa vs Kostafi.
Eden Hazard vs Hector Bellerin.
Alexis Sanchez vs the world.
The list goes on. But there is one match up we will not be seeing that I was really hoping to finally witness is N’Golo Kante vs Granit Xhaka so that we could see who stepped up and proved themselves the alpha male.
Why? Because after Arsene Wenger admitting that he tried to sign N’Golo Kante over the summer, numerous supporters have come out and said that we would have been better off with Kante.
Meanwhile, I’m over here still thinking Granit Xhaka is going to be one of the best things to ever happen to Arsenal.
But it’s going to be hard to make that argument until the two go head to head. This was going to be the perfect opportunity to see Xhaka step up to the moment and take his leadership up a notch. Matches against Chelsea, especially with Diego Costa, are high octane and tempers will be raging.
When Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-0 at home, Xhaka did get a taste of the action, coming on for Coquelin when the Frenchman sustained an injury in the 32nd minute, but that’s not the same. That’s not a game that he was ticketed for.
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Plus, that was a much different Chelsea in a much different place.
This Chelsea needs to be taken down a notch and it would have been career defining for Xhaka to come out and see to it that the Blues suffer a serious blow. Or at least the biggest blow they can suffer.
Anyway, there’s no one to blame but himself, and that’s the shame of the whole thing. I want him here to defend his honor, not only against the Blues but against doubting Gooners but his own impetuousness is the reason why he can’t do that.
Which means that we will just have to keep waiting for the next big opportunity for Xhaka to step up and show that he has learned something. I reckon the next big opportunity for that will come against Bayern Munich.
Next: Arsenal's Predicted Starting XI Against Chelsea
In the mean time, at least the Coquelin vs Kante matchup is a fun consolation prize.