Arsenal: Granit Xhaka nails marvelous midfield

Granit Xhaka has extolled the virtues of a midfield containing him, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey. He nails the reason why this Arsenal trio is excellent together: Balance.

It feels like the whole season that I have been barking on about the potential of Arsenal’s midfield three if they were to ever play the right shape and personnel. In podcasts, in articles, in the pub. It is the one tactical change that I have been waiting for Arsene Wenger to implement.

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Well, against AC Milan, I received the gift I was waiting for all year: Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere played as the central-midfield trio.

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And Xhaka has now been talking about that midfield structure in the Arsenal matchday program ahead of Sunday’s match against Stoke City. Of playing with Ramsey and Wilshere, the Swiss international speaks of his deeper position, the positive combination play between each of them, and the greater balance that it provides the whole team:

"“When I play with those two [Wilshere and Ramsey], I’m a bit deeper, basically just in front of the defence. Jack and Aaron like to go forward, to get into the box, whereas I’m happy to stay back and build the play from a deeper area. In the past, it’s worked well, even if we haven’t had the results to back that up, and in the AC Milan games, we combined well together. Jack and Aaron naturally go forward more. But we all have our qualities and always try to help each other out.”"

That for me is the key point: ‘we all have our qualities and always try to help each other out’. The key word in all of this is balance. Specifically, it is the lack of balance that Arsenal often play with, and the counteracting impact of having three natural central midfielders all feature.

When just one of Ramsey or Wilshere partners Xhaka in midfield with Mesut Ozil in front of them, the team loses its shape all too easily, vacating the midfield, leaving vast spaces on the counter-attack, exposing a defence that is already vulnerable enough. However, with both Wilshere and Ramsey present, they provide the necessary discipline and reservation to bring structure and stability to the side.

Moreover, they both have great energy to cover the ground for the full 90 minutes. Given the athletic shortcomings of Xhaka as the anchor of the midfield, that is an invaluable trait. He can struggle when defending against space, so having two players who have the mobility and range to do much of his running for him allows him to sit a little deeper, read the play, and make anticipatory, rather than reactionary, decisions.

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Given Wenger’s team selection in the two biggest games of the season — the two legs against Milan — it seems fair to conclude that he also feels that this is his best midfield. I, obviously, am in agreement. Let’s hope that it used increasingly so between now and the end of the year.