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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne & James Benge

Granit Xhaka's staggering claim about Arsenal and his teammates following Watford draw

Granit Xhaka's reaction to letting a two-goal lead slip against Watford might surprise Arsenal supporters.

At half-time the Gunners were cruising.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring - albeit against the run of play - and then added another before the break following fine work from Mesut Ozil and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

But then came the self-destruct button.

In the 54th minute at Vicarage Road, the Gunners made a mess of a short goal-kick.

Bernd Leno passed the ball to Sokratis before the defender attempted a pass into midfield, only for Watford's Gerard Deulofeu to intercept and eventually find Tom Cleverley before he found the back of the net from 15 yards.

And then David Luiz conceded his second penalty in his last three appearances, allowing Roberto Pereyra to make it 2-2 from the spot.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Xhaka admitted his team were 'scared'.

"We are very disappointed, we had a good first half and then we came out and played so bad in the second half," he said. "We paid for that.

"We knew they had nothing to lose and they would come for us but we didn't show our game, we were too scared, nobody wanted the ball.

"Every team in the Premier League is strong enough to score so you have to stay calm, be mentally strong and we weren't today."

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has since responded to those comments.

"It might have been individual," he said. "You never need to be scared.

"I can feel the players. I can feel the same, the possibility to not achieve our good consequences.

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"We need to be strong to be in our mentality, not for the players but to create like today happened in the second half.”

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