Arsenal: 3 unwanted players who stepped up to the call

1. Granit Xhaka

If you could design a team and game that is meant to exploit Granit Xhaka’s weakness and minimise his strengths, an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City might just be it. A suffocating high press to give him no time on the ball, a flooded central midfield that challenges his positional discipline, and lots of smaller, mobile players who will buzz in and around his defensive midfield zone.

And yet, while Xhaka’s shortcomings should not be minimised, on this occasion, he was sensational, especially in the first half. While one stat is never sufficient to fully illustrate how well or poorly a player performed, that Xhaka maintained a 93% pass completion rate, misplacing just two passes of 30 attempts all game, is a telling example of the quality of his performance.

Defensively, Xhaka, alongside Dani Ceballos, was aware, disciplined, ever-present. But it was in possession where he also excelled, and where he would have been expected to struggle. Rather than succumb to the pressure, he calmly played through and around it. He dictated play at times, progressed Arsenal up the pitch, and did not allow to City to simply press Arsenal into submission.

This was Xhaka at his absolute best. It is a far cry from under a year ago when he told the supporters to ‘f*ck off’ or six months ago when he told Arteta that he wanted to leave. This was Xhaka earning his redemption on the biggest stage.