Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed his surprise at Granit Xhaka’s recent long-range finishes.
Wenger agreed a deal to sign the Swiss midfielder from Borussia Monchengladbach this summer in a £32 Million deal, and he is already impressing within his new side.
Xhaka opened the scoring in last night’s 4-0 away win against Nottingham Forest with a long-range strike, and Twitter erupted with excitement.
https://twitter.com/afcvideo/status/778311858684096518?lang=en
Wenger was questioned about the goal, and he revealed that he was not aware that his new signing had that in his locker.
He said: “Honestly, not really.
“I knew he had a good shot. But he played very deep last year [at Borussia Moenchengladbach] and didn’t get forward a lot.
“But I hope that will give him the taste for more.
“It’s great for him to get confidence as well and to know that he can score goals.”
This was of course not his first strike this week, as he also opened the scoring with an even better finish at the weekend, and I cant wait to share many more with you.
Granit Xhaka's first ever Arsenal goal! What a strike #afc https://t.co/0JXT1iVAUC
— #afc 🔴 (@afcinstant) September 17, 2016
Xhaka is quickly becoming a fans favourite, and with strikes like these, he is only going to grow in our hearts. His goal was the first of four for the second time in a row, and helped us on the way to our fourth victory in five matches.
Hopefully he will be given the chance to help us continue our impressive run against Chelsea on Saturday, when we look to break their unbeaten run against us.
Does Xhaka deserve to start against the Blues at the weekend? If so, who should he line-up alongside?
Pat J
Yeap he does deserve a place and cos its Chelsea, he should be paired alongside Le Coq.
He must pass better though, gave the ball away a few times for intercept
It is a fact guys, he played well and must start, but he can’t be doing that against Chelsea.
Unleash this beast on Chel$ki…
We need to smash these clowns on the weekend to send out a statement to the rest! It is normally the big games where we seem to stumble- get this right lads and we have a chance!
Wenger would prefer Santi-coq partnership.
Actually we are spoilt for choice.
Wilshere going out on loan makes sense! We defo got the best midfield in the prem by far!
Wenger #Respect
he is a great player, the fact he is less mobile than santi makes him a stable presence, an it protects the back , he can also direct play from there as hes shown…
my concern? its chelsea, they are masters of the dark arts
diego costa, fabregas, hazard, luiz…these are some of the best divers and dirty players in the league
we get red cards against them, xhaka is prone to it, its a big risk,
We’ll be 3-0 up through 3 long range Xhaka strikes so it should not really matter too much when he gets sent off
Xhaka and Cazorla for Chelsea
Xhaka should’ve gotten red carded for that, he could have killed somebody.
Sending a half kilogram projectile at such a high speed and at head height towards a group of people is definately “dangerous play”.
I prefer a pairing of le Coq and Xhaka with Cazorla attacking in the midfield against Chelsea. Ozil should be benched for that game cos we need a lot of steel in midfield against hazard and William and ozil does not provide that, also he never tries to retrieve the ball when he loses it and that could be dangerous against a team like Chelsea. Let Cazorla handle the creativity for that game
I wonder what the Ox was saying to Xhaka when he scored that deflected screamer?
A) “So it was you who stole Sanchez’s rocket launchers!”
B) ” Don’t let Wenger see you shooting from distance” ?
C) ” Can you teach me that… I’ll be your best mate”
B
I hope I am right choosing option “C”
I hope Wenger will not tell that that is not Arsenal way.
These Xhaka goals are refreshing, we are having something different here.
So happy for this. Wish there’ll be more of that.
And the lucas goal was a bit different to the normal arsenal play as well.
Chelsea games makes arsenal players navours , this must be controlled. Le coq n xhaka, I don’t kno. If one get yellow let d 2nd come on d pitch. Cazola must play, our best player now.