Granit Xhaka got both a goal and assist as he helped Arsenal onto a 4-2 victory against Leicester this afternoon.
The Gunners have started the new season well, winning both of our opening matches, and that has been made even sweeter after seeing Manchester United drop to bottom of the division by losing both of theirs.
While Gabriel Jesus will take much of the plaudits after being involved in all four of our goals this afternoon, Xhaka was integral to our side in attack today, also getting his name on the scoresheet as well as setting up the Brazilian for one of his strikes also.
The Swiss midfielder has now explained how he has a new freer role this term which allows him to get forward more, and explains how he is happy with how things are going.
“I’ve got more freedom to go up and down,” Xhaka told Arsenal Media after full-time.. “I know I can do that. I have a lot of freedom from the coach, from my teammates.
“At the moment I’m happy with how everything is going. Let’s continue to work like this and hopefully at the end of the season we can be more than happy.
“It’s always good when you score and it’s always good when you can help the team – not only me, but all the players did a great job today. I’m more than happy to help, of course.”
Xhaka still gets a lot of stick from some sections of our fans, and I’m not alone in wanting us to bring in another central midfielder to rival him in the centre of the park, but he was in top form this afternoon in helping us to victory, and he deserves the credit for that.
Our former captain found himself in the right place at the right time twice today, and we may not have won without him, and it will be interesting to see if we can get another level out of him now that he has been given a new freedom role within the team.
Could we see the best from Xhaka this season? Could anyone else profit from being given a similar role in the side?
Patrick