Sunday, 17 January 2021

Granit Xhaka Is the Key to Arsenal’s Defense

By db-admin

DBasia.news – Arsenal vs Crsytal Palace ended in a 0-0 draw. Granit Xhaka, the defensive midfielder for The Gunners, played brilliantly as a strong fortress.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace took place at the Emirates Stadium, Friday (15/1/2021) in the English League continued. Arsenal are more dominant in ball possession, 68 percent versus 32 percent. And, more superior in shots on goal, four to two.

Even so, the final score was as strong as 0-0. This draw also broke the trend of Arsenal’s three consecutive wins in the Premier League this season. On the other hand, the Gunners have also failed to win from Crystal Palace in five consecutive meetings.

Arsenal temporarily remain in 11th place in the Premier League standings with 24 points. Crystal Palace also did not move from 13th with 23 points.

Reporting from WhoScored, the Arsenal player who stood out the most in the match was their midfielder, Granit Xhaka. The 28-year-old man maintains a midfield that stands level with Dani Ceballos in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Xhaka’s granite moved deeper, becoming the first wall to defend the defense. WhoScored rated him 7.8 as the best rated player in the Arsenal squad.

Granite Xhaka was able to make six tackles that were entirely successful. The most crucial tackle was in the first half, when he was able to tackle the ball from Wilfried Zaha.

The situation is, Zaha moves to stab from the right side of the Arsenal penalty box and outwit three players. When Zaha got the shooting space, lucky Xhaka came grabbing and doing a clean tackle.

Granit Xhaka also made a crucial block in the second half. In a Crystal Palace counterattack situation, Zaha ran fast on the left side of Arsenal’s defense.

Zaha took off a diagonal horizontal pass towards Benteke who ran parallel from Rob Holding and Granit Xhaka. Luckily coming back, Xhaka did a sweep.

Granit Xhaka continues to be the top choice of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta at the defensive midfielder post. His performance continued to improve, silencing his critics.