3 ways Arsenal can fill their Granit Xhaka-shaped hole

When Arsenal sold Granit Xhaka in the summer, it seemed like the right decision to let the Swiss man play out his days as a starter in a good Bundesliga side while Mikel Arteta made the necessary recruitments to replace him.

However, in the first three games of the season, Arsenal have been off-balance and shaky at times, and there is a Swiss warrior-shaped hole in the team. In Germany on the other hand, Xhaka and Bayer Leverkusen have enjoyed a perfect start to the season with 14 goals in three games (if you include their first-round DFB-Pokal victory).

KaiHavertz has so far played in Xhaka’s #8 role but hasn’t looked convincing. In both attack and defence, the German has looked a bit tentative and complacent. The relationship with Gabriel Martinelli hasn’t yet blossomed and when Havertz was subbed off for Fabio Vieira against Fulham, the team seemed much more dynamic and fluid.

Piling criticism onto Havertz doesn’t seem fair in this extremely early stage of his Arsenal career, but something needs to change. Xhaka was an imperious presence in the Arsenal team in both defence and attack, sniffing out transitions and popping up in the unlikeliest of attacking positions.

His departure has created problems for this Arsenal side, which Arteta has tried to solve with Havertz and plenty of tinkering (21 outfield players have already played for the Gunners this season). It looks like more alterations are needed for Arsenal to really hit their stride.

3 ways Arsenal can fill their Granit Xhaka-shaped hole

So, how do Arsenal solve their Granit Xhaka problem? Here are three solutions.

1. Play Declan Rice in a more advanced role

Like Xhaka and unlike Havertz, Declan Rice is an all-phase midfield player capable of helping out the attack just as much as the defence. He can run with the ball, he can shoot well and he is already building a relationship with the attackers.

At West Ham, he was almost always employed in a double pivot alongside Tomáš Souček. I think this made it more difficult for Rice to show his offensive capabilities but they are there and Arteta is certainly able to get them out of him.

Defensively, Rice is superior to Xhaka. Rice has the ability to lunge into tackles with seemingly unfaltering precision, destroying attacks before they even begin. He can also cover great distances to recover balls and will be more useful in defence than the Swiss man, who was never the most mobile.

The question is whether Rice can have the same impact as Xhaka in attack. The only way to find out would be to play him in that role, and I feel confident he would bring goals to the team.

The #6 role would then be open to either Thomas Partey or Jorginho, who’ll be supported by an inverted Oleksandr Zinchenko when Arsenal have the ball.

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2. Reintegrate Emile Smith Rowe

Another player who could fill the role is Emile Smith Rowe. Smith Rowe, along with Saka, was the player who lifted Arsenal and Arteta when they were at their lowest. His attacking qualities are clear and ESR is an incredibly fluid player who is at his best when combining with the players around him.

He did play this role in pre-season and was both impressive and worrying. His offensive contributions were very positive but he didn’t seem to have the defensive awareness to cut out the danger when needed.

In this sense, he is similar to Havertz but Smith Rowe is a more dynamic player. Given the right guidance, he will hopefully improve defensively and offer something in every phase of the game. Arteta has been a long admirer of the England U21 international, but that admiration has been nowhere to be seen as of late. Perhaps the boss is figuring out how to get ESR back into the starting XI. With a little ironing out, the Xhaka role could be perfect for the Hale End graduate.

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3. System change

The third solution would be a system change. Two names in that Arsenal midfield are absolute certainties in my opinion: Rice and Martin Odegaard. If Arteta wants to keep Rice a bit deeper, then maybe the solution could be to give Odegaard a few more defensive responsibilities and allow for another more attack-minded player, like Havertz, ESR or Fabio Vieira, who was seriously impressive against Fulham.

Odegaard has shown defensive prowess and he is always running and pressing. More defensive duties may be asking too much of the Norwegian, but if it can help fit both him and Fabio Vieira into the side, it could be devastating.

Potentially, Arsenal could sign another all-phase midfielder, someone like İlkay Gündoğan, as the transfer market isn’t yet over.

Overall, it’s clear that something is not quite ticking in this Arsenal side and it’s hard to pinpoint their issues down to one thing. Although, the early signs suggest they’re going to miss Xhaka this season. Arteta will need to keep fiddling around to find his solution to the team’s problems, and he must do it soon.