Arsenal vs Manchester City: Granit Xhaka warning misses key point

Arsenal will be dead set on contending with Manchester City’s imposing midfield, but that doesn’t put Granit Xhaka at a disadvantage. Quite the contrary.

Arsenal’s match up against Manchester City has a ton of talking points, none of which raise more points of interest than the midfield. The City midfield is fast, it’s deadly, and well, it’s small. Only Fernandinho has that ball-winning ability and he’s going to find that stopping this Gunner’s attack is going to be just about as difficult as vice versa.

Granit Xhaka is going to be standing right in the middle of this battle and Harry Redknapp thinks that his lack of speed will leave him up against it when trying to stifle David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.

You can’t disagree with that. He won’t find much joy at all on the defensive side of things. But this game was never going to showcase defenses. It was going to be about two fluid attacks and who could be more clinical.

For that reason alone, I see this warning as a bit off target. Because on the opposite side of things, Neither Silva nor De Bruyne is going to be able to win the ball back from Xhaka, who has drastically cut down on possession losses, ranking among the best on the team.

Any time we see Xhaka struggle, it’s because he is rushed. When he gets pressured, he can be a bit sloppy with his passing. But give him time and he thrives. Against City, he will have time. Unless Fernandinho tries to get on Xhaka like a backpack, but that would be foolish, because it gives the front three free reign.

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Xhaka will find tremendous joy in the passing lanes so long as he understands the lack of pressure he should face, combined with his superior size. He can keep smaller players boxed off the ball and he has proven that.

We have started to see Xhaka’s passing settle back into where it was before – beautiful longballs that threaten to chip away at the defense.

City won’t stop that. They can’t stop that. And if they do, it likely leaves Mesut Ozil or Aaron Ramsey without much concern over the ball.

Obviously we should be concerned about the City attack, but I don’t see why they shouldn’t be just as concerned about ours.

Next: 5 Key Players Against Manchester City

Xhaka can be a major player in that attack. And while we may get frustrated by the two City creators running circles around him, if the Swiss can maximize his strengths, he can offset that downfall.

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