The ‘Xhaka’ Role

In 2016, Arsenal decided to buy Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach for around £30–35. Xhaka’s career at Arsenal has not been smooth sailing, his dirty play and temperament have often been criticized for costing Arsenal. The climax was when Arsenal fans booed him due to his poor performance during the match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace in 2019. Since then, Unai Emery has stripped Xhaka’s captain armband and he is predicted to leave Arsenal at the start of the 2019/2020 season. In the middle of the 2019/2020 season, Arsenal brought in Mikel Arteta from Manchester City to replace Unai Emery. The arrival of Mikel Arteta as the new coach was a breath of fresh air for Xhaka because he became one of Arsenal’s important players that managed to win their 14th FA Cup at the end of the 2019/2020 season. However, Xhaka’s performance under Mikel Arteta was not without any problems. His dirty play and temperament (again) have costed Arsenal so much in recent seasons. The easiest one to remember was his tackle on Diogo Jota during the EFL Carabao Cup 2021/2022 semifinal against Liverpool.

This season, the Arsenal vice-captain has yet to receive a single red card, with Mikel Arteta being one of the reasons behind this. Arteta tried his best to keep Xhaka from clashing with the opposing players, so he doesn’t get a red card and suspension. Mikel Arteta has given Granit Xhaka a new and more attacking role this season, with him scoring 4 goals and 5 assists / 9 G + A (his best-ever attacking output in the Premier League).

In this article, we will discuss how Granit Xhaka’s role has changed this season and why he is one of Arsenal’s most important players.

Build-Up Role

In previous seasons, he was more positioned to form a double pivot with Partey/Elneny and assigned to focus more on helping build up in the first phase. But with the presence of Zinchenko (who played as an inverted fullback), he is now in a more advanced position. Arsenal mainly builds up at 2–3 / 3–2 with White-Saliba-Gabriel forming back 3 with Zinchenko-Partey forming a double pivot.

Xhaka and Odegaaard as double 8s are in a more advanced position to serve as progression outlets. Although, it is not uncommon for him to drop to help Arsenal build up in the first phase. It’s just not as often as last season and only at certain moments.

There are several situations where Xhaka will go wide.

• When Arsenal wants to invite the opponent’s press

• When the opponent blocks central progression

But in this situation, Xhaka also could have decided not to go wide, by pinning his marker to open up passing lanes for Martinelli. His ability to circulate and positional awareness are an important asset for Arsenal.

You can see on the heatmap from Sofascore, Granit Xhaka played in a more advanced position and operates a lot on the left flank. Xhaka’s experience in playing as a left fullback (LB) and Zinchenko’s experience playing as a midfielder, make them no strangers when they have to rotate positions with each other.

Xhaka was tasked to form double pivot more often when Tierney was played. This is because Tierney is more comfortable playing on the left flank rather than as an inverted fullback (like Zinchenko)

Attacking Role

Arsenal usually attacks with 5 players in a 2–3–5 formation, with Xhaka operating in the left halfspace. He often created a wide overload on the left with Martinelli and Zinchenko, to ease the combination play.

If the left fullback decides to overlap, Xhaka will take care of the rest defence. Although, there were examples when Arsenal attacked with 6 men, and Xhaka stepped up to attack. However, this only happens at certain moments. When forming a rest defence, he can release a halfspace cross which is usually used by De Bruyne/Trent Alexander Arnold to help their team to create chances.

In that position, Granit Xhaka could also release a long shot like he used to do in the previous seasons. However, he hasn’t scored a long shot this season. This is because his role is now more attacking, making him often enter the penalty box.

As a result, he is more often involved with goals and assists because he gets in a more advanced position compared to previous seasons. We can see it in the shot map of Xhaka’s goals in the Premier League, where 4 of his goals came from the penalty box in the middle area.

He also made off-the-ball runs at many moments which not only earned him chances but also helped other players to gain space that could be converted into a chance.

Left Side Dynamics

Mikel Arteta made it easy for his players to rotate while maintaining the structure (3–2–5 / 2–3–5 / 1–3–6). Especially with the presence of players like Jesus, Trossard, and Zinchenko, who can help other players in rotating.

Because of this, a fluid left-side rotation is one of Arsenal’s weapons to dismantle the opponent’s defensive block. The rotation between these players can open up space for other players which can be converted into opportunities. An example is when he provided an assist against Man United in January, Arsenal circulated with 4 players while rotating positions. As a result, Xhaka was freed from his marker and able to provide a cross for Nketiah.

Another example is when he scored a goal against Crystal Palace. Xhaka and Zinchenko continued to rotate to escape from their markers. As a result, Xhaka freed from his marker and was able to do a quick 1–2 combination with Trossard before scoring the goal..

All of his goals in the Premier League this season, happened when Arsenal played with a false 9 (Gabriel Jesus / Trossard), this is because a false 9 striker was assigned to drop and rotate positions at many moments thereby creating space that Xhaka can expose.

A significant increase in Xhaka’s attacking aspect can be seen in the Fbref version of the data. Non-penalty goals, assists, xG, xA, shot-creating actions, and touches in the penalty box have all increased compared to previous seasons.

Defensive Role

One of the reasons why Xhaka was played in LCM, is because he has good defensive attributes. This allows Arsenal to use him in any defensive scenario.

During the transition into a defensive block, Xhaka (who has better defensive attributes) is positioned to form a double pivot with Partey in a 4–4–2 shape, while Odegaard is in front with the Arsenal striker.

He was also assigned to drop into the backline to act as an additional defender at many moments. Granit Xhaka’s role is like a box-to-box, where he is required to defend in his own penalty box and attack the opponent’s penalty box. His flexibility in defence and attack as well as his relentless work rate are the reasons why he has become an irreplaceable figure at Arsenal this season.

Weakness

Granit Xhaka is not very comfortable when he has to receive the ball ‘back to goal’ because he is not a mobile player, this can be seen in the mistakes he made in previous seasons. An example of his error that was successfully converted into a goal by the opponent, was against Burnley in the 2020/2021 season. Therefore, Arsenal brought Zinchenko to be tasked with helping build up in the first phase with Xhaka in a more advanced position.

His weakness in his attacking role was seen when Arsenal didn’t play with a false 9 striker. This is because he rarely gets space that can be exposed with his off-the-ball runs. 4 of his Premier League goals this season, happened when he played with a false 9. He is also not a creative player who can consistently create ‘unpredictable’ moments, so (apart from his off-the-ball runs) he was often easy to predict when Arsenal is trying to dismantle the opponent’s block.

It was also mentioned earlier that he can provide half-space crosses like De Bruyne and TAA. From Fbref, Xhaka’s crosses into the penalty area was only 0.08 per 90 (38th percentile). For comparison, De Bruyne (one of the players who often take advantage of halfspace area to cross), registered 0.74 crosses into the penalty area per 90 (98th percentile). Of course, this big difference has to do with how the two teams play. However, there is potential for Arsenal to improve in this area. Especially, with Arsenal already having scored with this kind of method.

Because of this, rumors of Arsenal bringing in a new LCM in the summer often appear in the media. Names such as Mac Allister, Caicedo, and Rice are frequently mentioned.

Granit Xhaka is an important player who is also a ‘leader’ for Arsenal’s Young Guns, but he will turn 31 next season. It will be interesting to see, whether Arsenal will buy a new LCM and whether Granit Xhaka will stay at Arsenal next season.