Brentford vs Arsenal - Match reaction and player rating

[Mac76]

Apart from anything else nothing you or I say matters he’s going to continue to be played and my opinion based a) on his lack of footballing attributes and b) what we’ve seen consistently in the past is that it will come back to haunt us.

again, it's this for me, the fact he's been no 1 on the team sheet ever since Arteta's arrival (and Emery before him), despite prior to this season being a total liability, says that there is a questionable dynamic there akin to 'teacher's pet' syndrome, where Xhaka's quickly inserting himself into the backside of a new manager has saved him from being demoted or sold numerous times. Arteta would literally have taken out a gun and shot Guendouzi, Pepe or Auba for doing half the things that Xhaka has done, yet he gets away with it

ok, Xhaka playing further up the pitch takes him out of his real danger zone and it works against lesser teams, when as you say he is given the time to play a good pass (which he admittedly can do), but ultimately he is not a player fit for a team which wants to be bona fide top 4 contenders

so totally agree that Arteta's obsession with him is unhealthy and will hold us back