This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
There can’t have been too many people who were captivated by Manchester United’s clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford on Monday night.
It was a rather dour match, and no-one can really argue with the 1-1 result. Neither side really deserved to take all three points.
Following last week’s announcement from Unai Emery, this game was technically the start of a new era for Arsenal as Granit Xhaka’s first match since being appointed the Gunners’ new captain. On this showing against the Red Devils, however, he looked like anything but a leader.
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Whether it be offensively or defensively, the Switzerland international just wasn’t at the races.
Of course, he is a more pragmatically-minded player, but just one tackle and zero interceptions show that he was unable to have a real effect on his side in the defensive third.
Bearing in mind the 20-time English champions probably just edged proceedings, having 16 shots to their opponents’ 10 and 55% to 45% possession, some more help at the back would not have gone amiss.
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At the other end, too, the 27-year-old had very little influence. He had zero key passes and zero dribbles, and even failed to unleash a single shot. If it hadn’t been for the fact he was captain, you probably wouldn’t have known he was on the pitch.
Well, you would have done at the moment when Scott McTominay’s strike nestled in the back of the net. With the shot coming towards him and the goal, it looked as though Xhaka ducked out of the way to avoid being hit in the face by the ball.
Not exactly the attitude you want from your captain in what was such a big game in the race for the top four, and it was a microcosmic incident of an inefficient performance.
The former Borussia Monchengladbach man had the perfect opportunity to show why his boss had put his faith him in with this huge responsibility, but it almost looked as though it was all too much for him.
One fixture is not enough time to truly judge him, but Emery may just be wondering whether he made the right choice after such a worrying start to what should be a fresh chapter in Arsenal’s history books.