Granit Xhaka was signed by Arsenal as a replacement to Mikel Arteta who retired in the summer of 2016.
Xhaka was, in some ways, a replacement for Arteta who left the Gunners to join Manchester City’s coaching staff three-and-a-half years ago. The Swiss international is just one short of 150 appearances for Arsenal and was even the captain of the club before it all came crumbling down.
The former Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder had a huge outburst against home supporters two months ago in the game against Crystal Palace which forced then manager Unai Emery to strip him of his captaincy. Now that Emery is gone, Xhaka has a chance to become a mainstay again and it looks like he has a fan in new boss Mikel Arteta.
The Arsenal boss said: “When I was going from Arsenal to City to start coaching and we were looking in that position, he was one of the players on my list. This is how much I liked him. I was happy when Arsenal signed him because I thought he was going to be a terrific player.”
Xhaka, on his day, is a terrific player and is Arsenal best number eight by a mile. The Swiss international will be extremely important in Arteta’s system and it would be foolish of the Gunners to let him leave without giving him a chance to redeem himself.
In his four starts in the league since returning to the squad, Xhaka has been very good. Arteta will be hoping that he can continue the same kind of form when he takes charge of his game as Arsenal boss against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Arsenal are nine points off the top four after winning just one of their last 10 league games. A solid defensive performance against Everton should give them confidence for Thursday and that combined with the often seen ‘new manager bounce’ could sway the game their way against a struggling Cherries side.
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