Rewind two years, or even one, and the idea that an opposing team would have to find a way to deal with Granit Xhaka would have been laughable. You wouldn’t have even counted on him reaching 200 Premier League appearances for Arsenal. Yet here we are. Xhaka reached the 200 mark on Sunday and, with three goals and three assists to his name in just 12 Premier League games this season, the midfielder has reinvented himself and reinvigorated in his new role.
The next question is whether he can keep it up as opponents pay more attention to him and Sunday seemed like a promising opening response. A year ago, and before, Arteta’s Arsenal was predictable for rivals. Xhaka didn’t move upfield, the left winger tucked in, the left back pushed, a forward five was formed at the top of the pitch, but it was easy to set up and the opponent could easily argue who was whose man before. the game and stick to the plan.
Putting down Mikel Arteta’s team has become much more difficult and Xhaka’s role is key. With just 692 league minutes on the season, Xhaka has now had more touches in the opposition box in 2022/23 (43) than in the 4,201 Premier League minutes he played in the previous two seasons combined (42). .
He was, nominally, Ryan Yates’ man on Sunday. Yates would watch and shadow Xhaka constantly, clearly looking to prevent him from adding to his already impressive goal tally for the season. But Xhaka’s move, and the way Arsenal players now rotate positions, gave Yates and Forest a headache.
Typically, appearing in a 4-5-1 and looking to frustrate a superior side, I would look to keep the gaps between players as small as possible. But Xhaka’s movement constantly dragged his marker down and gave Arsenal teammates room to play. It was common to see the Swiss keep his position to immobilize Yates and signal Gabriel to advance with the ball. With striker Taiwo Awoniyi forced to shut down Thomas Partey at the base of midfield, Arsenal easily created space for their defenders. If Forest had ever been interested in pressing, he would have had to alter his form entirely, with Xhaka keeping Yates honest by staying high on the pitch and off him, playing on the blind side of him.
And in case it seems like an accident that Yates, the Forest 22 is always close to Xhaka, a case of simply being his direct opponent and not a clear plan to mark the Swiss, followed him not just deeper or higher. but also wider.
And Xhaka never had more space than a moment when he appeared on the other side of midfield having chased down the counter-attack. Clearly, on that occasion, he was too far away for Yates to follow and the message to stand firm had not been conveyed to the entire midfield, only the one Xhaka faced throughout.
So Xhaka, who stood tall, as in the first pictures, gave Arsenal’s centre-backs time and space on the ball, stretching the pitch vertically and keeping the Forest midfield honest in their positioning, but even after that, Arsenal still had to create chances. against what one would expect from a compact midfield.
Xhaka’s move came to the fore here again. He played off Yates, sometimes slipping to the touchline so that the space in midfield created could be used by Gabriel Jesus or Gabriel Martinelli.
In the example below, Xhaka actually received the next pass, played wide by Thomas Partey while Serge Aurier followed Martinelli inside and vacated the flank…
…but these situations often saw Gabriel Jesús pick up the ball. The striker received five progressive passes from Gabriel in the center of defense on Sunday. Prior to the game, the defender had found his compatriot with just 11 progressive passes throughout the season.
That ball down the middle, and Jesus’ inclination to the drop, allowed Gabriel Martinelli to also attack through the center of the field. With Forest looking to stay tight and compact, Arsenal’s attempts to stretch them out saw Xhaka and Martin Odegaard spread out, creating overloads on the flanks as the ball came in, and leaving Forest with a dilemma: follow the midfielders and create space in the medium for the likes of Jesus, or leave them and end up outnumbered if the ball goes wide.
Whether shifting to the outside or sitting tighter, Xhaka’s positioning saw him constantly off Yates (22), playing on his shoulder.
Steve Cooper’s side never found a solution and also failed to prevent Xhaka from making the dangerous final third runs which have become something of a strong point this season.
The midfielder’s wide positioning saw him repeatedly escape Yates’ attention before doubling up a run on the blindside of the Forest man. There were repeated warning signs in the first half, with one of those runs leading to a Gabriel Martinelli effort being cleared off the line, and others going unpunished because the weight on various passes just wasn’t right…
And then Arsenal were finally rewarded when another similar run from Xhaka led to the second goal after the break.
We saw a team have a clear plan to deal with Xhaka’s move (seriously, what a phrase) on Sunday and we also saw it fail. He may lack pace, but the midfielder has shown some really sharp movement in his new role. Only 25 players have had more touches in the box than him this season and he leads the likes of Heung-min Son and Kevin De Bruyne in the stats.
Xhaka’s movement is good and he uses Martinelli’s presence on the left flank to draw out defenders and open up space to attack. Playing outside of the opposing midfield is nothing new, but it was great to see it work against a team that seemed to really have a specific plan to follow Xhaka on Sunday.
A fresher, more fluid attacking approach began in the middle of last season, but only this season did it all start to feel like second nature. If Xhaka and his teammates can stay fluid and unpredictable, they will continue to stretch teams and create openings often enough to ensure this season is a huge success.
