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From Arsenal captain to looking for a new club in January. It’s been a topsy turvy start to the campaign for Granit Xhaka. These past two weeks have seen his Arsenal career plummet on a downward spiral that sees no light at the end of the tunnel. The Swiss international’s show of disrespect to the Emirates crowd has left a sour taste in the mouth of all those involved.
The player feels he has been abused wrongly on social media and has undeservedly become the scapegoat for Arsenal’s poor performances this season. He is right to feel hard done by, as he may have made a few mistakes, but he is not the sole reason for Arsenal’s poor start to the season. A poor start that has seen the Gunners only win four league games out of 11, while shipping in 15 goals in the process.
Here are three players who deserve as much blame as Granit Xhaka for Arsenal’s poor performances this season.
#3 David Luiz
David Luiz was brought in with the goal of finally solving Arsenal’s defensive frailties. His experience of the Premier League and know-how to win were meant to be the deciding factors in bringing him in on deadline day. Instead, all of the Brazilian's weaknesses have come to the forefront in his stint at Arsenal. His rashness in decision-making, poor positioning and lapses in concentration have all been showcased this season, contributing further to the detriment of Unai Emery’s side.
This season alone, Luiz has conceded two penalties, costing Arsenal valuable points in both games. David Luiz is as much to blame as Granit Xhaka because he has been a fundamental reason why Arsenal’s defence is conceding goals at a higher rate than last season. Arsenal fans will be praying that the former Blue is only bought as a stop-gap until the club can find a suitable partner for the incoming William Saliba.
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#2 Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Perhaps it’s the influence of David Luiz or he’s showing his true colours, but Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been absolutely atrocious this season. The Greek international has looked clumsy, erratic and quite frankly incompetent at the back. There’s no excuse for two experienced defenders like him and Luiz to be conceding the number of goals they are. Especially when you consider the fact that they have a top-quality keeper in Bernd Leno behind them, it’s inexcusable.
People can use Xhaka as a scapegoat as much as they want, but Arsenal’s two centre-backs have been a much bigger liability. Between them, they’ve made errors directly leading to goals severally, giving opposition attackers ample amounts of confidence. Perhaps fans were too quick to write off the ability of Shkodran Mustafi. The Emirates is no longer the fortress it once was, and that’s because of their comical defence.
#1 Nicolas Pepe
It’s fair to say things haven’t quite set alight in the way they were meant to for Nicolas Pepe. Arsenal’s £72million signing has failed to score a single goal from open play in 14 appearances. Yes, he needs time to acclimatise to England but for the money that’s been paid, Arsenal fans expected more. The Ivorian was billed to be the complementary piece to Arsenal’s already star-studded attack. Instead, the record signing has been outshone by an 18-year-old Bukayo Saka. It’s not just that Pepe hasn’t played well, he’s not even showing signs of being the player his biggest admirers said he would be.
In 14 appearances, the 24-year-old has scored three goals and provided four assists, but when you consider all his goals and three of those assists were from dead-ball scenarios, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. If Arsenal aren’t able to marshal a competent defence, then the very least they could do is outscore their opponents. And that’s not an unreasonable request when you have one of the hottest strikers in world football in the team, alongside Alexandre Lacazette and the most expensive player in African history, Nicolas Pepe.
