Arsenal: Granit Xhaka the key to another dimension

Arsenal’s attack has been known to go stale in recent years, but Granit Xhaka has established himself as the key to a whole new dimension of attack.

Arsenal put on a thrilling display against Chelsea at Wembley, taking home the FA Community Shield to kick off the new season. And no one was more “thrilling” than Granit Xhaka, whose first season was met with severe disdain despite the quality that he showed.

Now, however, the optimism is ripe that Xhaka is ready to make an even bigger impact than he did last year and it’s incredibly easy to see, and describe, how he can do just that.

When we lost Cesc Fabregas, we lost a major creative tool behind the attack. He was the orchestrator behind the attack and he wasn’t fully replaced until Mesut Ozil. But all of these guys were still part of the attacking force. They were the brain making the body function.

Behind them, there was defensive help with a few bombarding runs forward every so often.

Granit Xhaka provides something entirely different, while the same is still in place. So even while Ozil is pulling the strings behind the attack, even farther behind him is Xhaka, who is manufacturing even more creative potential.

Rather than just having that one layer of attack, the layers stretch back to him and go side to side with the wingbacks as well.

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Xhaka is the key component to this giant, multidimensional machine. The Gunners have been struggling to find that pivot to turn defense into attack and Xhaka isn’t that. What he is is even better. Rather than taking the ball himself, which can be predictable, he is capable of picking out any single player that is most capable of pushing forward.

Whether that be a bolting wingback or a charging Ramsey or Ozil or even a deep run from the striker himself. He will see them and he will find them with his magnificent longballs that stretch a defense like none other.

Any defender that sleeps when Xhaka has the ball will be punished.

There are so many dimensions to this attack and Xhaka is the fulcrum. We saw it against Chelsea as he created more chances than any two Gunners combined and more than all of the rest of the attackers put together.

That is what we have to look forward to this year and guess what? The defense can’t stop that like they can stop a pivot, because his effectiveness is predicated on his team mates movement and the opposition cannot possibly stop every single Gunner charging down the pitch.

And on the off chance that they do, Xhaka can take it himself and fire from distance.

Next: Arsenal's Predicted FIFA 18 Player Ratings

All I’m saying is last year was the prequel to the main story. Get ready for an amazing year from the Swiss grenadier.

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