Thomas Partey has stated that ‘we all know’ how hard Granit Xhaka works for Arsenal amid criticism, as he told his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, Xhaka was involved in a moment to forget when his mistake led to Burnley equalising during Arsenal’s draw at Turf Moor.
Since Xhaka moved to Arsenal in 2016 for £30 million (Sky Sports), he has been highly criticised for his error-prone ways and it has resulted in him receiving a lot of stick for his performances.
But Partey, who has partnered the 28-year-old in the middle of the park this season, has labelled him a ‘great player’.
“I think he’s a great player,” said Partey. “We all know he works hard for the club. He works hard for the teammates on the pitch.
“As we know with football you never know when you are going to have a bad day. It’s part of it.
“We have to keep raising each other. Keep fighting for each other and that’s how we are going to have a good game and win matches.
“All the players that play together know what we have to do. It doesn’t matter who we play against. We have to do our best.”
Despite making such a costly mistake, Xhaka will, more than likely, line up for Arsenal on Thursday night and at the weekend.
There are probably Arsenal fans out there who would like to see him benched given the important nature of the games coming up.
These next 10 or so days might just define Mikel Arteta because if Arsenal end up getting knocked out of the Europa League and losing the North London derby then it will seriously increase the calls for the former midfielder to be sacked.
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