‘Great effort’, ‘Faultless’, some Arsenal fans praise midfielder’s performance after Chelsea draw

A selection of Arsenal supporters have appreciated the performance of midfielder Granit Xhaka during the club’s hard-fought 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League.

The Gunners went down to 10 men after David Luiz’s red card in the 26th minute and shortly after, they were trailing by the goal scored by Jorginho from the penalty spot.

As a result, manager Mikel Arteta was pondering about the possibility of changing things around with Rob Holding partnering Shkodran Mustafi in the central defence before Xhaka stepped up with a solid showing in the position.

Xhaka impressed at the heart of the backline with two tackles, one interception and six clearances (whoscored), and he looked assured barring the lead-up to the Blues’ second goal where he played Cesar Azpilicueta onside.

Still, a large section of the fans were delighted with the display from the former club-captain and few of them have taken to Twitter to show their appreciation for the same.

Here are some of the best tweets…

Massive credit to Granit Xhaka tonight. Forced to play at centre back for the best part of 70 minutes cause of Mustafi and Luiz's antics.

Thought he was superb and lead by example at the back. Hats off to Granit ??? #AFC #CHEARS pic.twitter.com/18xeTHEgjC

— Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) January 21, 2020

Martinelli & Bellerín will grab the headlines, but hats off to Granit Xhaka. Out of position, a man down, a goal down, up against it. Nonetheless: faultless.

— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) January 21, 2020

Shoutout to Granit Xhaka for playing at CB for a team with 10 men for most of the match and not falling apart. Great effort from him today.

— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) January 21, 2020

Incredibly proud of our youngsters tonight. Saka and Martinelli were both amazing. Big performance from Leno too. But my match of the match is actually Granit Xhaka.

— SamW (@SamW_AFC) January 21, 2020

It's actually mad that Granit Xhaka is best fit centre-back we have at the club.

— AfcVIP⁴⁹ (@VipArsenal) January 21, 2020

The attitude and workrate of the whole squad has changed since the appointment of Mikel Arteta and Xhaka has been one of the star performers. He has indeed won over some of the fans, who were against him playing for the club again after the furious bust-up in late October.

Arsenal still trail fourth-placed Chelsea by 10 points but the hard-earned draw with 10 men should boost the confidence of the side going forward. The Gunners’s next game will come against Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round.