Despite Arsenal’s 2-0 win against West Brom, supporters weren’t pleased with the performance of Granit Xhaka. Many took to Twitter to beg the club to replace him with Jack Wilshere.
A clean sheet, two goals for a new signing and three points sounds like a good night’s work. However, it wasn’t quite as easy as that. In truth Arsenal were lucky they had the excellent Nacho Monreal on hand to make a goal-line clearance, and luckier still not to see a penalty awarded for an brainless challenge by Shkodran Mustafi.
But it was one of Arsenal’s midfielders that came in for the most criticism, with Granit Xhaka‘s poor form continuing on Monday night. Xhaka may have had disciplinary issues last season, but he was consistently one of Arsenal’s best performers in possession. Now, it seems that has been completely flipped on its head.
Although the Swiss international has only received one yellow card in seven matches, his passing hasn’t been anywhere near what it was last season. One or two games you’d understand, but Xhaka has been off his best all season, and Arsenal fans have started to notice, calling for Jack Wilshere to replace him.
If Xhaka can't perform in games like this he should give way to Jack Wilshere
— Arse&Nose (@Arse_n_Nose) September 25, 2017
Just a couple of points on tonight. Xhaka needs to sort his passing out, it's his best attribute & he's been wasteful more often than not
— Bergkamp & Bergkamp (@Orangeiceman10) September 25, 2017
Xhaka needs to sort himself out or someone else should replace him. He was our worst player on the pitch today. Getting concerning now.
— Joe Mossy (@Mossie190) September 26, 2017
Wilshere would no doubt jump at the opportunity to get more first-team starts, so if Xhaka wants to keep his place he’ll have to step up quickly, especially if the 25-year-old performs on Thursday as well as he did last week against Doncaster.