Ashley Westwood told Sky Sports during their coverage of Arsenal’s defeat to Burnley on Sunday that he heard the opposition players shout ‘we done this at Leeds’ following Granit Xhaka’s sending-off.
For once this season, Arsenal were dominating a game and creating chances before Xhaka’s moment of stupidity resulted in him heading back to the dressing room and his team losing yet another home fixture.
It was Xhaka’s shove on Westwood himself that got him the red card and it clearly turned the tide of the game against Arsenal because they ended up conceding not long after.
Burnley’s £5 million man [Sky Sports], who was in the thick of it at the Emirates Stadium, shared his side of the events that unfolded and what the Arsenal players were saying.
“Sometimes it can go in their favour,” said Westwood. “It gives them a bit of boost. Something to work for.
“I hear them shouting ‘we done this at Leeds’, so we knew we had to keep switching the ball and eventually we got [the goal] from the set-piece.
“He has fouled Dwight in the middle of the pitch. Then he’s gripped Dwight up and you cannot do that. Then he’s put his hands on me and you cannot do that in today’s game.”
At Leeds, it was Nicholas Pepe who let the team down by allowing off-the-ball stupidity play a major part in his team dropping points – in that game they just about secured a draw, but it wasn’t the case on Sunday.
In truth, if the Arsenal players want to show commitment then they need to show it in their aggressive play with the ball or in their tackling. They would rather get sent off for going all out on a tackle rather than off-the-ball stuff which just doesn’t look good on the team.
Mikel Arteta will clearly get the blame for Arsenal’s current situation, but he cannot do anything about their behaviour on the field. Although, he is picking certain individuals who simply haven’t been performing for a long while.
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