Arsenal Vs Burnley: No Granit Xhaka not a coincidence

Arsenal beat Burnley with their best central midfield performance in a long time. Granit Xhaka’s absence from that midfield is not a coincidence.

Arsenal returned to the Emirates stadium for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon. After a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Newcastle United last weekend, Unai Emery injected more youth and speed into this team, especially in central midfield. And his team responded, with a 2-1 victory over middling Burnley.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Youth Movement

Dani Ceballos’ introduction ahead of Granit Xhaka, with Joe Willock dropping deeper into a more natural central midfield role and Matteo Guendouzi continuing in his distributing role, was a key change that completely changed the make-up of the Arsenal team, especially how they played in possession.

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

The mobility and interchanging positions of the central midfield three were critical to how the Gunners played with the ball. Ceballos would frequently drop deep to collect the ball, turn and play a forward pass, while Willock and Guendouzi were more than comfortable to drift throughout the pitch, floating from pocket of space to pocket of space, each taking turns to split the centre-halves to provide a third option to move the ball forward.

What was extremely noticeable throughout the 90 minutes was the ground that Arsenal covered in central midfield. When Ceballos was substituted for Lucas Torreira, another extremely mobile midfielder who can press high and recover his position with his speed and agility, he covered more ground than any other player on the pitch. The next best in the team was Willock. The mobility and athleticism of the midfield were crucial to Emery’s system.

It is not a coincidence, then, that Xhaka was not a part of the central midfield. This is not to pile on the Swiss international, who does have a neat skill set that can have a positive impact on the team if used correctly and nicely protected, but in the modern game, with for a versatile and mobile midfield, he does not really fit.

Xhaka requires time on the ball. When afforded space to dictate play with his excellent passing range, he can control matches from deep positions. A little like a quarterback, he can orchestrate and dictate. But when pressed by opponents, he struggles to create space for himself. He is overly dependent on his left foot, cannot dribble away from would be tacklers, and has inconsistent passing and touches when under pressure.

Emery wants a modern midfield, and a modern midfield requires versatility and mobility — just look at the Manchester City and Liverpool central midfields if you were not aware of this yet. And this is precisely what Xhaka does not offer.

This does not mean that Xhaka should never play for Arsenal again. Of couse, he should, and he will. But it is not a coincidence that the central midfield played one of their best games without him.