Arsenal: Granit Xhaka earned himself a Spurs-esque trophy

Arsenal don’t deal in fictional trophies, but if they did, Granit Xhaka would have earned himself on in the League Cup loss to Tottenham.

Arsenal have spent many, many decades being the top dog in North London, and as such, there isn’t much need to talk about fictional trophies. Not like the Spurs trophy cabinet, full of pairs of shoes and 2nd place DVDs.

That said, if there was a use for fictional, individualistic trophies at the Emirates, than Granit Xhaka would have earned himself one in the puke-worthy League Cup quarter-final loss to the fictional trophy merchant Spurs.

The essence of these fictional trophies that Spurs are frequently bragging about is that they are meaningless in the big picture, but noteworthy.

By that standard, what Granit Xhaka did against Spurs was meaningless in the big picture, but noteworthy. Because he had a really, really good match in the wake of it not mattering, because the club as a whole lost in a paltry affair.

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I know, I always praise Xhaka, even though many see it as nothing more than a personal bias, but this felt like something different, something that exceeded any bias I may or may not have.

Bizarrely, Xhaka was yet again deployed as a centerback, first in a back four, then after half in a back three. From the off, I really wasn’t that nervous because Xhaka had settled into the role at the end of the Southampton match.

True to form, he defended pretty damn well, even leaving off the “for a midfielder” but. He closed down the guy with the ball, clearly learning from the downfall against Southampton. He was immune to jukes and fake-outs, he stood strong no matter who was in front of him and, in the meantime, he did his usual midfield duties, creating the most chances on the team and placing passes even more pinpointed than usual.

It was insane how perfect his passing was on the day. His long balls were exactly where he wanted them to be.

And maybe the best part was seeing him brandish the finger of shame at Dele Alli for, well, for being Dele Alli.

I know, it doesn’t mean anything and it never will. It’s not like, ten years down the road, we are going to look back and reminisce about that great match our Xhaka the midfielder had as a defender in the loss to Spurs and we certainly won’t make a DVD about it. But damn Xhaka was good. Better even than normal.