Arsenal vs West Ham: 5 key players as desperation looms

1. Granit Xhaka

In case you’ve missed the theme of my pregame chat, it’s all about midfield presence. Midfield presence provides a backbone for the attack and it gives the defense a spot of reprieve. It is the most important factor on the pitch and it is where Granit Xhaka shines the most, when he actually does shine.

Like it or not, Xhaka has a lot of weapons we have not been seeing much of lately with his decline in confidence caused by toxic fans. I miss him ripping shots from distance. I miss him picking incisive passes that break through defensive lines.

He does those things really well, and he hasn’t been able to lately because he’s been down on his luck. But we saw a bit of a rebound in these last two matches, as he got back to the basics. Nothing extraordinary, just the basics. The next step up for Xhaka is to reintroduce those skills that make him an elite midfielder. Yeah, I said it.

If we can get Xhaka’s passing back to that level, and factor in his ability to strike from distance, which is not something opposing teams will be actively thinking about anymore, we can start seeing the Xhaka of early last year come back at long last. Like I kept saying about Pepe—what better time to click it all together?