Arsenal drew their first North London Derby of the season 2-2 vs Spurs this Sunday and Granit Xhaka was one of the biggest culprits of the match.
The Swiss international has always divided opinion amongst the Arsenal fans and on Sunday he was the one who gifted Spurs their second goal of the match and made it more or less an uphill task for his team.
The Gunners were already trailing 1-0 in the match when Granit Xhaka brought down Son inside the penalty box courtesy a clumsy challenge which led to a penalty.
And after the match, the Arsenal fans could not stop criticising the midfielder for his poor show and his error of judgement during such a crucial match.
But apart from the fans, Martin Keown also came out to blast him saying Granit Xhaka is so bad in tackling that Arsene Wenger had actually told him not to risk going into a challenge.
“Granit Xhaka is so bad at tackling that Arsene Wenger once admitted he had told the £35 million midfielder not to bother anymore,” Keown he wrote in the Daily Mail(as reported by the Express).
“‘I would encourage him not to tackle, to stay on his feet,’ Wenger said, and what we witnessed against Tottenham was classic Xhaka.
“He gifted the visitors their spot-kick by sliding in on Son Heung-min, right under referee Martin Atkinson’s nose.
“Did he really think that would end well? Then his constant fouling interrupted Arsenal’s flow.
“The hosts lost momentum because he kept breaking up play. This is what Xhaka does. He is like a fire engine that turns up and discovers the house has already burned down – he’s that late!”
And according to a report in the Daily Mail, Granit Xhaka has made more errors(7) leading to goals than any other player in the English Premier League since 2016.
It is clear that the fans do not want the midfielder to be a regular feature anymore but somehow Unai Emery seems to put his faith on him.
There were reports that Granit Xhaka might be on his way out of the club during the summer but that did not happen and right now he is one of the regular starters under the Spanish manager.
But some rumours also claim Lucas Torreira is the man who will eventually play in defensive midfield and that Granit Xhaka is just holding the fort for the time being.
