Granit Xhaka’s provocative wish to Arsenal fans as he accused a scapegoat

Granit Xhaka has vowed that he “ will not be broken ” by his critics after claiming he was wrongly targeted due to his far from perfect disciplinary record.

The Swiss midfielder, 28, has been through a rough patch at Arsenal since his £ 30million transfer in 2016 and has often been criticized as one of the weak links on the Gunners’ side.

The controversy never seems to be far from Xhaka either, with his outburst of anger at the club’s fans during their clash with Crystal Palace in 2019 a case in point, while his tendency to be sent off at crucial times has regularly angered Arsenal fans.

Xhaka has only received his marching orders on three separate occasions for the club, but the last of them – a straight red card to Burnley in December – proved costly.

Yet he feels his track record is being unfairly judged against that of some of his peers.

“You have to live with the critics in football, but there have to be limits,” he said. See.

“There are other players who receive red cards, but they are not as criticized as me.

“Sometimes I have the feeling that with me, it’s deliberately turned into a bigger problem than it actually is.

“But it won’t break me.” I got over it, and this time it made me come back stronger – probably to the surprise of a lot of people.

Few could deny that Xhaka has proven his skeptics wrong with some of his performances this season, especially when paired alongside Thomas Partey at the Arsenal midfielder base.

It’s almost a given that reservations are an integral part of a defensive midfielder’s day-to-day work, with Xhaka now at eight for the season in all competitions, with his lonely red.

Six of those yellows have come to the Premier League this quarter, putting Xhaka in the upper echelons of the division, although he is still two behind teammate Hector Bellerin, who leads the way on eight.

And Xhaka’s stats don’t disagree with other players who hold a similar role, with players like N’Golo Kante, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Luka Milivojevic, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and John McGinn all on the same or one more. large number of yellows for the campaign.

Still Xhaka has been made a scapegoat for Arsenal’s shortcomings in the past, including receiving abuse online, but he has had the full support of his manager Mikel Arteta.

“It’s not just Burnley’s game [that he got abused for]”Arteta said last month. “He had two big episodes, you know. Maybe you can get over one of them, I think the second time around he really showed he didn’t want to go through this again.

“We are here to try to support our players, the club were exceptional giving them all the support. We try to do the same, the teammates have done the same.

“He’s been there again. He gets a lot of praise for the way he plays. It has to do with his character and how much he wants to be successful at the club.”

Arteta added: “I think he has matured a lot as a player and is very important in the dressing room. On the pitch he is doing a lot, a lot better than before.”