Granit Xhaka has been one of the most improved Arsenal players this term as the midfielder delivers some very fine performances at the Emirates.
The Swiss star has been given more attacking freedom this season, which has translated into more goals from him.
Previously, he played in defensive midfield and hardly ventured forward, but that has changed in this campaign.
He takes important and impressive positions when Arsenal attacks, which has helped him to contribute more goals.
We see his attacking contributions, but Xhaka has been doing more than that for the team.
Sports data specialists STATSports have been watching him and recently compiled some stats from his impressive campaign.
Barry Watters, STATSports Head of Sport Science, said as reported by the Mirror: “In how Arsenal play and how Granit Xhaka is used in that system – he is a box-to-box midfielder with serious energy getting around the field.
“Hence, we see high total distance and m/min here for Xhaka, due to his role both in attack and defence. He drops in when Arsenal lose position and when in position, he plays in line with [Martin] Odegaard and offers an attacking option.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
This will hardly surprise most Arsenal fans because Xhaka has improved greatly in this campaign.
We may not have known the stats behind his season, but we knew he was in top shape and has been better than ever.
Hopefully, he will keep doing well and lead us to win the league title by the end of the term.
Xhaka have been a improve player of d season so far….. Is my favour arsenal player good times of improvement …
The DAMASCUN type conversion of Xhaka , from being nearly useless to a highly effective player, has been one of, if not the single MOST amazing rags to riches stories (speaking metaphorically), in my long sixty plus years of watching our team.
Our previous two managers both played him regularly and neither could make him play well. But MA has done what neither AW nor UE could achieve.
Granit Xhaka has certainly been a revelation for a great deal of fans but his leadership and team player traits was never in doubt.
The left side of our play has a numbers advantage over our right side. White does have to tuck in as a third CB at times. and Partey has to often hold his position, It goes to show us that Odegaard and Saka have to rely more on themselves compared to the other side which has Zinchenko, Jesus, Martinelli, and Xhaka in support of one another. Also, it shows that Jesus does a wonderful job of pitching in for both sides of our attack when not central