Arsenal are under serious pressure in the Premier League title race now following a disastrous weekend.
Defeat to Bournemouth and Man City’s hammering of Chelsea has flipped the script again and now all eyes are on this weekend’s upcoming clash with Man City.
After throwing the title away twice in the last few years alone, Mikel Arteta knows full well the time has to be now for his Arsenal team.
However, looking back at the recent history, it feels like Arsenal haven’t learnt their lesson as fans harped back to Granit Xhaka’s comments a few seasons ago.
Granit Xhaka’s past comments have Arsenal fans’ attention
Granit Xhaka might have been a bit of a ‘marmite’ type player during his time at The Emirates but he is very much a winner.
He’s doing the business now with Sunderland as their leader and there’ll be some at Arsenal who will wish this current team had a Xhaka in it.
Indeed, looking back to his comments about the whole club back in 2022, it appears Xhaka’s message still rings true.
“If someone is not ready for this game, stay at home. If you’re nervous, stay at home. Don’t come here. We need people to have balls,” Xhaka commented back in 2022 after Arsenal lost at Newcastle.
Naturally, Arsenal fans have been all over this after a tough week and social media was awash with comments from Gunners supporters.
One fan suggested Mikel Arteta use this as inspiration.
“Instead of TikToks during training, this interview should be played on loop,” one fan said.
Another fan called out the signing of Christian Norgaard, suggesting Xhaka was always the better option.
“Said it before, we should have brought him back instead of Norgaard. Norgaard’s been ok but we needed this guy’s mentality. The way he linked the defence and attack.”
With another fan agreeing.
“His departure was one of Arsenal’s biggest losses. Arteta had transformed him into a monster.”
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Another supporter actually harped back to the reaction at the time to Xhaka’s comments.
“He got slandered for that interview too at the time. I’d take Xhaka back in our team right now in a heartbeat.”
Still, one fan did point out that Arsenal ‘bottled it that year anyway’ with Xhaka involved, while another suggested Xhaka was ‘the worst player on the pitch that night’.
Still, Xhaka’s form and attitude for Sunderland this season has been a shining light in the Premier League.
And in a way, he does have a valid point with his comments here when it comes to the upcoming fixtures.
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