Arsenal: Granit Xhaka emerges a battle-hardened warrior

Arsenal were a bumbling circus for the first half, Granit Xhaka included, but no one stepped up in the second half quite like the Swiss midfielder.

It takes a lot for me to start losing faith in Granit Xhaka, but that first half did it. I was questioning what belief I had ever had in him to do much more than squirt through the occasional long ball. Arsenal were crumbling and he was doing nothing to turn it around, nor did I feel he was ever capable of it.

To be fair, it wasn’t just him, it was everyone. And to single out that Coutinho goal, it wasn’t just Xhaka, it was Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny too. But I’m not here to point fingers.

The point of this is that, rather than get eaten alive by the game. Xhaka pried open the jaws of Liverpool at the start of the second half and willfully made a difference on the match. And by difference, I mean that those second 45 minutes may be the most effective he has ever been.

It wasn’t in the quantity of his impacts, but the quality. Even though there a good deal of it.

The first came just into the 52nd. Xhaka received the ball and, completely against his usual prerogative, immediately moved the ball on via a back heel to Alexandre Lacazette, who in turn found Hector Bellerin, who found Alexis Sanchez. Goal.

The second impact came in the 56th minute. With momentum on his side, Xhaka decided to rare back for a shot that, by knuckling in the air (and by some awful keeping by Simon Mignolet) smashed the back of the net. Goal.

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The third came just two minutes later. Receiving the ball with space in the midfield, Xhaka picked his best option and found Mesut Ozil, who would combine with a one-two with Lacazette. Goal.

While the goal he scored himself was obviously the biggest impact, a huge criticism of this team in the first half was their inability to get attacks started and, once they were started, to keep it going. Xhaka did all of those things after having an abysmal first half.

Not just that, but despite some shoddy plays, Xhaka remained one of the few players to never have the ball directly taken from him. He was actually just as impressive defensively in the second half as he was offensively. He could be seen tracking back, winning the ball and making smart, sensible decision, including staying deeper and introducing some structure.

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It all depends on where it goes from here. This was a massive turnaround that felt like night and day and that kind of thing has to have a lasting impact on Xhaka and his next match. He has to feel confident. And confidence is so often the key.

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