Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Everton: 5 key players to watch — Debuts galore

By Andrew Dowdeswell

SWANSEA, WALES - JANUARY 30: Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Arsenal is being substituted for Mohamed Elneny of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Swansea City and Arsenal at Liberty Stadium on January 30, 2018 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
SWANSEA, WALES - JANUARY 30: Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Arsenal is being substituted for Mohamed Elneny of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Swansea City and Arsenal at Liberty Stadium on January 30, 2018 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Granit Xhaka
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 24: Tiemoue Bakayoko of Chelsea battles with Granit Xhaka of Arsenal during the Carabao Cup Semi-Final Second Leg at Emirates Stadium on January 24, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

3. Granit Xhaka

Granit Xhaka is not a very good footballer. I think we can all agree on that. Although he has several natural traits that are most certainly being mismanaged and underutilised by Wenger, there are some serious shortcomings that repeatedly restrict and undermine the influence that he has on games.

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Those issues came to the fore on Tuesday night in his worst performance since arriving in North London — given the disastrous nature of his some of his displays, that is, depressingly, actually quite impressive. For the equalising goal, for example, he simply watched as Sam Clucas ran across his face, unchecked into the penalty area to slide a near-post finish past Petr Cech.

I will be extremely interested to see how he responds to such a miserly performance. With the added attacking options that Arsenal signed in January, there could be a greater defensive responsibility placed on Xhaka to shield and screen an infamously vulnerable defence.

That is asking for trouble. He has proven incapable of fulfilling such a role. But Wenger is painfully loyal to those he trusts and likes, and Xhaka is an individual that he values. Because of the combination of his inabilities and the significance of his role, Xhaka is very quickly becoming one of the most important players in the team. That is a problem.

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