Arsenal: Granit Xhaka defeated his demons against Tottenham

Arsenal supporters were pleasantly surprised by Granit Xhaka’s performance in the North London Derby. The man slayed some of his past demons in the process.

Arsenal’s win over Tottenham in the North London Derby had literally no poor performers. Everyone came together and lived up to their best possible self where applicable and where not, they simply did their jobs.

Granit Xhaka was no exception. The Swiss midfielder was solid on the day, stoic in controlling a midfield that was supposed to overrun him and intelligent the whole way through. So much so that we may well have seen some of Xhaka’s old demons fall by the wayside as he brutally slayed them right there on the pitch.

The first sprung up in the 32nd minute, with the scores still level at 0-0. I think it’s safe to say that Gooners near and far shat a brick when that card came out of Mike Dean’s pocket. We had seen this too many times before. An early yellow card and a later misstep, rash or not, and he gets sent off.

But let’s be honest. That hasn’t happened at all this year and it didn’t happen during the latter parts of last year. He was learning the whole time. That isn’t to say that you can’t have relapses, though.

It was surprising when Francis Coquelin bumped Alexandre Lacazette out of the game because the assumption was that he would be coming on for Xhaka. A bit of a safety, because the last thing we needed was a ten-man shell trying to keep out an re-energized Spurs team.

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It never happened. One whole hour of playing while on a yellow card (which, by the way, I don’t think was even that bad of a tackle. The one before, well, that’s another story) and Xhaka was nothing but solid. He showed no hint of even thinking about risking his spot in the game.

The demon of his past was as dead as Christian Eriksen’s creativity. It ceased to exist. Like dust in the wind.

And that wasn’t the only demon. Xhaka was put under pressure all match, but he never once looked rushed or flustered. He held his ground, took his time and did what had to be done. Not even a hint of panic.

That’s his second big demon. When he gets flustered, he starts giving the ball away in dangerous areas and that’s the second negative way he often impacts proceeds.

There was none of that either. He was only dispossessed once and his passing never put us in jeopardy.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Tottenham

I’ve been talking a lot about turning corners, but how about slaying demons? Xhaka at least knocked two of his out. Hopefully they were killing blows.

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