Arsenal: 4 glaring mistakes Mikel Arteta made vs Everton

2. Everything About Granit Xhaka

When the team sheet came out it was a blend of surprise and acceptance. Granit Xhaka is indomitable, returning to action a full month ahead of schedule. He might be made of titanium, but he wasn’t even in the squad four days prior so it must have been a remarkable few days of recovery.

As far as the lineup goes, there is no space for revisionism. For the most part this was a team deemed more than capable enough before a ball was kicked of winning the matches: two senior midfielders in a pairing widely considered the best at the club. It felt like a welcome inclusion.

Xhaka played, but offered next to nothing in the that opening 45 minutes. The issues within the game stemmed from the midfield lacking progression and centrality, but the finger wouldn’t be pointed at Xhaka specifically as Thomas Partey was desperately off the pace.

Having not kicked a ball since September, the decision to throw Xhaka into the mix away from home on a Monday night against a side fighting for their lives has an air of weakness. The manager has such little faith in his team that he’s willing to make this call so soon against a team without a win in eight matches.

Arteta has always been Xhaka’s not-so-secret admirer and fielding him straight away is a public declaration of his love. He can’t go back on it now, and 90 minutes in every game to come is inevitable.

But the biggest issue of all – as playing him was, without hindsight, largely an accepted decision – was keeping him on the pitch for 98 minutes. He was dead on his feet and gasping for air in that second half and having already been booked for a tired foul he was then unable to make the professional foul to prevent the second goal.

What’s even more puzzling is that if Tierney was taken off due to a lack of playing time, why wasn’t Xhaka? Tierney hasn’t even been injured, yet he was considered less capable of completing 98 minutes than a Swiss who’d been in the gym on his own for weeks on end?

It was a baffling call, but just one of many.

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