Arsenal Vs AC Milan: 5 things we learned – This is weird

Arsenal faced AC Milan in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday night. Here are five things we learned from the 2-0 win.

Arsenal dismantled AC Milan in a brilliant first-half performance on Thursday night. Two away goals to the good after 45 minutes, this was the perfect European first-leg display: Defensively resolute when it mattered; blisteringly ruthless on the counter attack.

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Here are five things we learned from the 2-0 victory.

5. Midfield balance embellishes Granit Xhaka

The toils of Granit Xhaka have been much-publicised this season. Rightly so. He has showcased many shortcomings that seem difficult to overcome: an inagility and lack of balance and turning circle; a poor positional understanding of the game; a dimness to danger; an inconsistent passing range that fluctuates from precise, long passes to misguided simple errors. But on this occasion, he was excellent.

In fact, I might go as far as to say that this was the best game that I have seen Xhaka play. He read the game brilliantly, he screened the defence wonderfully, only getting pulled out of his position every now and then, and his passing was forward-thinking, penetrating, and advancing. This is the type of performance that he should be putting in each and every week.

Now, without taking too much away from the Swiss international, great credit needs to be given to the personnel that Wenger chose to protect him with. The dual-axis of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere fielded in equally free-roaming positions either side of Xhaka, although Wilshere was positioned slightly in front of Ramsey, provided the midfield with the energy that it required to prevent Xhaka from becoming exposed in vast spaces. That allowed him to play a midfield-sweeper role, picking up the loose balls and playing them forward accurately. An excellent performance; an excellent midfield.