Former captain Granit Xhaka has a battle on his hands to remain at Arsenal.
Today Granit Xhaka was stripped of the captaincy by Unai Emery and the question now must be, does he have a future at Arsenal?
We all know what happened and it was inevitable that there would be repercussions for his actions in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
Xhaka has now paid the price for his mini-meltdown and now has a fight on his hands to get back into the team.
Emery has to weigh up what effect it will have reintegrating 27-year-old, how the crowd will respond and how his teammates will respond.
Xhaka could be a distraction that the manager wants to avoid. If that is the case then it is almost certain that he will leave in the winter transfer window.
The thing is this, the fans just didn’t want Xhaka as captain, they did not want him in the team. Just check out the comments on this site, look at the reaction after the Tottenham game as an example.
It will require a carefully planned strategy from Emery if he is going to bring the Swiss captain back. It would be madness to bring him back in a high profile Premier League game at the Emirates. However, he could maybe be played in an away game in the Europa League. Though not tomorrow as he is not in the squad for the game against Vitoria.
Xhaka would have to put in some stellar performances and possibly have some contrition
So maybe there is a way back but it will not be easy that is for sure.