Granit Xhaka was blamed for exciting the Liverpool fans after he squared up with some of their players.
The midfielder is always looking to help his team and sometimes, it means getting into the faces of opposition players.
However, when that happens at Anfield, the fans increase their support for the Liverpool players.
Liverpool then used that as a morale booster and became the better team in the game.
The Reds were in top form for the second half of the fixture and nearly won the match, but Aaron Ramsdale had a good day at the office.
Some fans and pundits have blamed Xhaka for improving the atmosphere at Anfield, but Ian Wright believes he is just being made a scapegoat.
He says via the Daily Mail:
‘It doesn’t take too much to get that crowd going.
‘Even if Granit Xhaka went in there and slapped someone it’s not going to get that crowd any more going than they were gonna get going.
‘The fact is he’s been brilliant for us this season. I think the narrative is people are trying to point at someone. That’s how he plays, that’s probably how he plays in his back garden.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Xhaka’s action may have truly motivated the fans because that was the response they gave when Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp had a spat in the same fixture last season.
It is something that the former Arsenal captain should reflect on.
In the cool light of day the fact that Xhaka was involved in an altercation with AA was not why we failed to win the match yesterday.After controlling the match and being two up after 35 mins, I’m afraid we did not have the mentality to grind out a win against a Liverpool side which was there for the taking.Certain players simply failed to perform when the going got tough and regrettably,Arteta failed to adapt to the circumstances which ought to have focussed on keeping a clean sheet on the back of a 2 goal lead and hitting Liverpool on the break.His failure to use Tierney to shore up his defence is difficult to understand particularly when the form of Zinchenko and Xhaka has shaded off significantly lately.Saka was struggling with his first touch and could have been replaced for a more defensively efficient player rather than Jesus who was still causing Liverpool problems when he was taken off?In any event,while we failed to win Arteta and his players will not be too despondent as they prepare for the must win match against West Ham, who have been anything but impressive of late.