Charlie Nicholas has laid into Granit Xhaka and taken aim at Mikel Arteta in his latest rant about Arsenal at present.
The midfielder got himself a straight red card for a reckless challenge against Manchester City, when his team was already on the losing end of preceedings, with his action all-but ending any hope of a revival, just as we had been looking positive on the pitch also.
We ended up losing 5-0 at the Etihad to extend our losing streak to three in the league, and Nicholas has not taken it lightly.
‘He did what he’s always done,” he said on the Where’s Jeff Podcast. “He played the joker card. He is the joker of our club.
‘How he can manipulate Roma into paying £17m… I would’ve personally dropped him off there… And then he signs a new contract.
‘When you look at the so-called captain in Xhaka, that’s a cop-out. It was an absolute camouflage [the red card] and it just sums everything up about that football club.
‘As much as I want to support Mikel Arteta, I’m finding it harder and harder to justify his choices.’
I don’t think there are many Arsenal fans who would have been disappointed to see the Swiss midfielder leave the club this summer, nor do I believe many would be disappointed if Arteta was replaced during the current international break, but hindsight is a wonderful thing at this point.
We are stuck with both until at least Christmas I believe, but with any luck Albert Sambi Lokonga and Thomas Partey will be able to forge a formidable partnership to allow Xhaka to warm bench.
Could Xhaka’s red be a blessing in that we will likely see Lokonga and Partey start together?
Patrick