Arsenal: After that, I’d be pleading with Granit Xhaka too

Arsenal’s midfield lacked the gumption that they had against Bournemouth, and the key difference was obvious. If Mikel Arteta is pleading with Granit Xhaka, I don’t blame him.

Before Arsenal‘s match against Chelsea, I wrote about how Matteo Guendouzi‘s disappearance was concerning, but also not. He’s young, he’s talented, and he’s probably our most valuable player. This is just part of the learning process, nothing more.

But I also said that if you think now is the time for him to take over the job from Granit Xhaka, you may be getting a bit antsy in your pantsy. Freddie Ljungberg put two and two together and realized that Xhaka and Guendouzi weren’t best suited sharing the same midfield, meaning that one or the other had to make way.

For the longest time, Granit Xhaka has held that role and done quite well with it, but with the rumors that he’s been sold and the relatively obvious confirmation by his absence against Chelsea, Guendouzi was given the job.

It didn’t go that well. Guendouzi was loose, he was irresponsible—he looked young all over again. His defending was poor, he looked slow at times. It just wasn’t a good math for him overall.

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

In the wake of the defeat, reports surfaced that Mikel Arteta was still working to try to convince Granit Xhaka to stay. As one headline put it, Arteta was “pleading” with Xhaka to stay. Given what we saw, I wouldn’t blame Arteta at all if he was in fact pleading with the Swiss international.

For as much as people want to criticize him, at least he’s a steady and reliable presence, someone with worlds of experience that can be counted on. Guendouzi, at this point, is still young enough to be a bit of a wild card. He’s definitely shown a lot of improvement, but nothing that would indicate that he is 100% ready to take on the job that Xhaka’s exit would leave behind, and if we needed any further confirmation of that, we got it against Chelsea.

It’s not likely that Xhaka will stay. There’s no hiding from that. Which means that Guendouzi will be the learn-as-you-go heir to the throne. Unless we sign someone else.

Guendouzi has the skillset, it’s just a matter of finessing it into a product that’s finished enough to be counted on to not do a lot of the things we saw against Chelsea. It’s not far off. But keeping Xhaka would lessen the stakes considerably.