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Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Makes Return Against Bayern With Clean Slate
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal will be relying on Granit Xhaka to make a different against Bayern Munich, and with a clean slate and a fresh start, he should be just the guy to do it.
Arsenal’s newest midfielder Granit Xhaka had a horrid string of events go against him just a few weeks ago. After seeing straight red (for the second time this season) for a foolish tackle against Burnley, Xhaka faced a four match ban.
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To compile on that, he was looking at racial abuse charges from a third party report coming out of Heathrow Airport. The situation sounded a bit odd, but more than sounding odd, it sounded disastrous.
It looked to be a downward spiral for a guy who had a pretty clear off-the-pitch record, as well as a fantastic track record of just being a solid human being.
Thankfully, reports indicate that all charges have been dropped and Granit Xhaka is free of whatever negativity that this episode would have brought along with it.
That means that when Xhaka makes his return, which just so happens to fall on the crucial match against Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League knockout stages, he will have a clean slate.
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That’s kind of a big deal. There will be nothing weighing on his mind other than an insatiable desire to just put in a good effort. No foolish tackles, no impetuous decisions, no penalties surrendered. Just go out there and leave everything on the pitch.
I discovered earlier, in combing through Xhaka’s statistics (that’s what I do with my time…) that he hasn’t lost to Bayern since 2013 (more details on this streak here). That filled me with a ton of hope that we are about to see a masterclass performance from the Swiss. If he can take eight out of twelve points from Bayern when he captain Borussia Monchengladbach, why can’t he take a win and a draw with an Arsenal side with more talent?
These charges being dropped couldn’t have come at a better time because it is just one more step towards that end goal of seeing our Swiss bruiser back to his best self.
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There is a ton of optimism going around that the Gunners might find good fortune at the Allianz and that is great to see. But so much of that ‘fortune’ comes from Xhaka and his ability to make an impact on this match.