Granit Xhaka is hoping that his thunderbolt against Hull will be the first of many as he looks to ingratiate himself with the Arsenal faithful.

Averaging just under a goal every ten games throughout his career (10.35), his ratio is not a bad one for a deep-lying midfielder, although I’ve already heard him being criticised for not scoring more. It’s like some pundits just have one line per position to trot out like mindless robots.

Anyway, if he carries on scoring goals like the one he struck against Hull, I can’t see many connected with Arsenal having a problem with him.

For a comparison, other midfielders who play defensive/deep whom I’ve never heard it said that they should score more include Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic who scores, on average, once every 15.65 games, N’Golo Kante one in 18, and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson every 10.68. I got bored thinking of midfielders after those three, but you get the point.

Speaking after the match, Xhaka said on his Instagram, using emojis like a pro,

👉My first goal ⚽with Arsenal. I hope others will follow to please the fans.☝🚀

👉My first goal ⚽with Arsenal. I hope others will follow to please the fans.☝🚀

A video posted by Granit Xhaka (@granitxhaka) on