Granit Xhaka was not happy. Anybody who knows the Arsenal midfielder will tell you that he cannot understand why he would be omitted from the starting XI. To him, there is never a satisfactory explanation. But there he was, for the Premier League derby at home to Chelsea on Saturday, once again watching the kick-off from the bench.
Xhaka has started only three of Arsenal’s eight fixtures this season – one of them was the EFL Cup win at Nottingham Forest last Tuesday – and it is a fair bet that he did not envisage such a situation when he agreed his eye‑catching £35m transfer from Borussia Mönchengladbach to north London at the end of May.
In Arsenal’s biggest games so far – Liverpool (home), Paris Saint-Germain (away) and now against Chelsea – Arsène Wenger has preferred Francis Coquelin at the outset.
Xhaka, though, would enter what was a glorious, demon-exorcising occasion for Arsenal sooner than expected. When Coquelin stretched into a block tackle on N’Golo Kanté in the 28th minute, he felt something buckle in his knee. Coquelin tried to carry on after treatment but, when he sat back down on the turf – eyes closed, head tilted towards the heavens – it was time for Wenger to make the call to Xhaka. There was a huge roar from the home support when the Switzerland international strode on and, in a game studded with significant moments, this was one of them.
The Arsenal fans like what they have seen from Xhaka, and not only the long-range crackers that he has scored against Hull City and Forest. When he signed, there was the perception in some quarters – based, perhaps, around the high number of red and yellow cards he had collected in his career – that Wenger had got a no-frills midfield enforcer. The reality is different. Xhaka is tough but his game is principally about the intelligence and smooth execution of his passing, both long and short.
That Wenger has been able to use Xhaka mostly off the bench has sent a powerful message. It has told his players, chief among them Coquelin, that nobody can walk into the team from the outside, no matter the fanfare with which they arrived. It is consequently no great stretch to see the signing as having fired the levels of the collective. Furthermore, it has given substance to Wenger’s assertion that he now boasts his deepest and most mature squad in years, one that, he hopes, will challenge for the title. Consider some of the other players who did not make the lineup against Chelsea: Gabriel Paulista, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud and the £17m summer signing, Lucas Pérez. Wenger also has Per Mertesacker, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck to come back from injury.
Xhaka played well when he came on, to the right of Santi Cazorla in the central pairing, winning applause for one robust slide tackle on Diego Costa and a couple of penetrative passes up the channels. Whenever he came within 35 yards of goal, there were exhortations from the crowd for him to “shooooooot”. He listened in the 77th minute but, from a position to the left of centre, ballooned his effort.
Xhaka turns 24 on Tuesday and he stands to be the centre of attention on Wednesday when Arsenal take on Basel at home in the Champions League – the club where he began his career and the one for whom his elder brother, Taulant, still plays. It will be another high-profile meeting of the Xhakas, following the group phase tie at Euro 2016 in June, when Granit’s Switzerland beat Taulant’s Albania 1-0 on what was a difficult occasion for the family.
Neither of the brothers would have chosen the Champions League collision, with Taulant having described it as “unnecessary”. He said: “It’s always a big stress for our family – the media and friends talk only about this topic. But maybe it is easier to face him in a Champions League game than with the national teams; it’s only about the clubs, and not about our countries and our blood.”
Coquelin’s serious injury means Xhaka is in line to start and there will be scrutiny on the partnership with Cazorla, particularly after Wenger said earlier in the month that he preferred Xhaka as a “box-to-box player, because he likes to come deep to distribute the game and he has the engine to make an impact with his runs”.
Cazorla’s partnership with Coquelin has provided balance and is why Wenger has turned to it early in the season, as Xhaka finds his feet in England. It will be interesting to see how Cazorla develops an understanding with him.
Basel have got the better of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in the recent past and there is nobody at Arsenal who thinks they represent a kind draw. Wenger will demand the same levels of focus and fluency that were on show in the victory over Chelsea. Xhaka is straining at the leash and he will feel as though he has something to prove. Arsenal are on the up.
