Granit Xhaka starred for Arsenal against Chelsea at Wembley.
Arsenal beat Chelsea on penalties at Wembley this afternoon to lift the Community Shield.
Sead Kolasinac headed home an 82nd-minute equaliser for the Gunners to compound Chelsea’s misery, having just had Pedro sent off for a dangerous challenge on Mohamed Elneny.
And Arsene Wenger’s side managed four superb penalties during the shootout to snatch the early bragging rights ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
It is a relatively meaningless match in the scheme of things and Arsenal fans won’t read into the result, but some of them should hope that Granit Xhaka’s performance is a sign of things to come from the Switzerland midfielder this season.
The 24-year-old, a £35 million addition last summer, struggled for the majority of his first season in North London and did, in truth, look like a waste of money at the best of times.
But at Wembley, Xhaka showed why the notoriously-frugal Wenger spent so much on him.
The Swiss was excellent in Arsenal’s midfield and, according to WhoScored.com, Xhaka managed 106 touches – more than any other player on the pitch – as he found the sort of control that he has been searching for since joining.
In addition to that, the former Borussia Monchengladbach ace finished the 90 minutes with a passing accuracy of 90%, while also managing to create four chances – one of which was the assist for Kolasinac’s equaliser.
On the whole it was a polished performance from a player who has many critics to silence after a lukewarm first season, but this was a perfect start.
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