Arsenal: Granit Xhaka’s ability to recover sets him apart

Granit Xhaka spotted Arsenal an early deficit with his mistake, but his ability to bear down and turn things around makes him truly special.

It’s been awhile since I wrote an article about Granit Xhaka that I knew would irk some Arsenal fans, but this one will, because rather than harp on Xhaka’s performance against Wolverhampton, or rather, harp on his one mistake against Wolverhampton, I’m instead going to praise him for not accepting things as they were.

Xhaka made a horrible mistake in the 13th minute and followed it up by not defending well enough to prevent the goal. I won’t deny that. It was like the old Xhaka reared his ugly head. But for as terrible as it was, that was rock bottom. From that moment on, Xhaka made every effort to crawl out of the hole he had dug for himself and the club and I have to say, he did it.

I also found it mildly amusing that the next time a ball was played to Xhaka like the one he screwed up in the 13th minute, he looked over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t make the same mistake.

This isn’t the first match where Xhaka has made a bad mistake early on only to reset, shape up, and finish the match at a point where his head should be held high, because aside from the one slip-up, he ended up being a pretty positive influence.

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Particularly late on in the match, where we really started to see who was willing to push it and seek out that equalizer and then the potential winner, Xhaka was driving the ball forward with little regard for any fatigue he might have been feeling.

While some players were content to sit back and continue the process of passing the ball in a semi-circle, going nowhere, Xhaka was seen pushing the ball all the way to the opposing goal line and corner flag in an attempt to find and free up space.

In one particular instance, he should have nabbed an assist that would have leveled the game, as he drove all the way to the back corner of the goal box and sent in a perfect ball to Hector Bellerin, who yet again reminded us that he has never had a left foot, and still doesn’t.

There were more than that. Xhaka continued to be the most prominent attacking midfielder on the pitch, despite the obvious fact that he is not an attacking midfielder.

Obviously the mistake mars the match just a bit, but it speaks to the level of ability Xhaka has that he can bear down and turn a match around like he does.