Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka has improved in one key area

Last season was the best individual campaign that Granit Xhaka has had for Arsenal. Especially in the second half of the campaign, where he really stepped it up and level and played his best football in red and white.

This is season is going to trump that, and that’s with him having missed nine games with ligament damage in his knee.

Across the campaign he’s not only partnered various midfielders, he’s also played in different positions. Recent victories over West Ham, Manchester United and Chelsea have seen him revert to a double pivot role in midfield, although just prior to that run he filled in at left-back, left centre-back, and has played as an advanced No. 8.

How he has slotted into the No. 8 role is incredibly impressive considering his skillset does not cater to the demands of the position. It’s makeshift, but he’s making it work.

Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka has improved his style of leadership in the Premier League at a crucial time for the team

With Leeds next up on the fixture list on Sunday it’s likely the more routine partnership with Mohamed Elneny will be in place, and he has another huge task ahead of him acting as the senior figure in a team bursting with youth.

Behind the scenes Xhaka is the de facto leader. The leader without the armband. On the pitch that honour is no longer bestowed to him, and he has often and rightly been criticsed for demonstrating the wrong kind of leadership.

Whether it is him losing his head at needless moments or doing something rash when the occasion doesn’t call for it, what he has exuded on the pitch is not reflective of the way he’s perceived off it by his teammates.

But there has been a huge improvement in that regard. If there was a scuffle in a game you can be sure that Xhaka would be in the thick of it. Not anymore.

Now he’s acting as the peacekeeper. Of course he will still stand up for his teammates – as everyone should – but if the incident with Declan Rice and Eddie Nketiah were to have happened 18 months ago then Xhaka would not have been as calm as he was in that situation. On the pitch he’s keeping people in check, refocusing them, and even sharing some of the tactical burden with Martin Odegaard as he directs his teammates in game.

Still more than capable of doing something mind-numbingly stupid like hoofing the ball away and getting a yellow card in the win over Manchester United when Arsenal were under the cosh, what he transmits (to use an Arteta buzzword) is more, dare we say, mature(?) than under previous seasons.

For a team missing key pieces of the squad and smack bang in the middle of such a pressurised environment as they hunt for a top four spot in the Premier League, the improvement in the soft factors around Xhaka needs commending.