Arsenal: Just in case you forgot why we need Granit Xhaka

Arsenal got the job done against Cardiff City, but their midfield was suspect at best, and serves as yet another reminder of just how important Granit Xhaka is.

I absolutely love what Unai Emery did for Arsenal against Cardiff City. He took the same midfield set-up that worked so, so well when it was populated with Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi. These three won the midfield battle against Chelsea’s “daunting” midfield with flying colors.

Against Cardiff City, Emery left Xhaka out, but deployed the exact same midfield set up – the diamond. The only difference would being that Mohamed Elneny got the start in the spot that Xhaka normally gets.

The result? Utter pandemonium. Okay, maybe that’s a bit melodramatic. But it was pretty bad. Elneny was all effort, little product. Torreira was a loose cannon with the ball and Matteo Guendouzi… well, he was still pretty awesome. He’s a fireball out there, and it can get a bit out of control at times, but it breathed some life into a limp midfield.

All because Granit Xhaka was out. So what changed? That’s easy. Yet again we saw what happens when you remove the controller out of a midfielder that needs control.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Not only did the club suffer in the exact position that Xhaka would normally play, with Elneny unable to duplicate the results, but the two flanking midfielders, Torreira especially, suffered as well, as they were unable to play with the same effectiveness as they normally would with Xhaka in behind, controlling play like he does so well.

There wasn’t a lot of offensive push from the midfield either and, again, that is something that we have come to rely on Xhaka for – his ability to break through lines with lengthy, ingenious passes, either through the passing lanes or across pitch.

No one else does that on the team, and when you take it out, you start asking the other midfielders to pick up the slack and no one is, as of yet, able to do that. Guendouzi is getting there. There is a lot of promise along with the present day value in Guendouzi, but he can’t replicate the control yet, the control that makes all of this much more manageable.

All this to say that, yet again, Xhaka’s value should be clearer than the media bias. He completes the midfield, and Emery did him a serious service by sitting him in this one.