Arsenal: Granit Xhaka’s midfield solution is beginning to take shape

Arsenal shook things up with their swap with a back four, and it certainly shed a light on how the club can bring out the best in Granit Xhaka.

Solving the riddle of Granit Xhaka has been a priority with Arsenal since he arrived in the summer of 2016. How can you bring out the best of a deep-lying midfielder who doesn’t defend particularly well?

Well, I think we might have seen exactly how against West Ham.

With the back four engaged, Xhaka essentially sat deepest while being flanked by a rotating cast, but usually by Jack Wilshere and Alex Iwobi, both of whom served as a pivot. No doubt had Aaron Ramsey been fit, it would have been Ramsey and Wilshere.

Which is the answer we’ve been looking to.

Even in this match against the Hammers, we saw some key changes in Xhaka. For starters, he sat deep just about always. With how many midfield bodies were ahead of him, there wasn’t any space to fill, so he didn’t both forcing himself forward. That was a positive, and that’s something that seemed to keep him better grounded.

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It led to him just plain defending better. He had a cooler head, almost as if he now understood the position that he was in and was mentally prepared to do his job for the good of the club.

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But he was also helped out immensely by some superb defending by Wilshere. Wilshere amassed come fantastic tackles and interceptions and was second on the team with six ball-winning plays, second only to Nacho Monreal’s eight.

His defending was so noticeable that Wenger even mentioned it when assessing the Englishman’s start, saying “He also defended well, which is very important in this position,” as quoted by the Metro.

Knowing that Iwobi is not (or not yet, at least) a central midfielder with a defensive presence, Xhaka was still able to look loads better defensive than what he has in recent matches.

Factor in Ramsey, who has been superb defensively this year. He has claimed back possession from the opposing midfield with deftness and precision and he really showcased it against Tottenham, where he gave Xhaka so much security.

Thinking ahead, if you have two capable box to box midfielders in Wilshere and Ramsey flanking Xhaka and the effect of having such a set-up carries over with the Swiss, then this may be the long-awaited for solution. It doesn’t involve a ball-winner like Kante, but it does involve two capable ball-winners who just don’t specialize specifically in ball-winning.

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And again, it’s too early to tell now, but if Xhaka has better defensive instincts in this position, which only time will tell, then hey, that’s a bonus.