Midfielder’s superb FA Cup semi-final showing against Manchester City suggests a remarkable turnaroundWhen Granit Xhaka stalked off the pitch against Crystal Palace in October, flinging off his shirt and swearing at the fans booing him down the tunnel, it felt like the sort of yarn that normally has only one ending. And so it was no surprise to see him here nine months on, putting in a statement performance against one of the world’s great midfields in a resounding FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley. Hang on. May have got my lines mixed up there. Will get back to you.Perhaps we should no longer allow ourselves to be surprised by things like this. After all, players mature and wither. Form...
Arsenal’s future is unlikely to be this brand of intense resilience so the familiar mistakes that led to Liverpool’s goal still resonateIn a mixing studio somewhere deep in the Premier League’s plague bunker, a young sound engineer was, one suspects, given only a moment’s pause. Just what crowd effect do you play after an error by Virgil van Dijk? The Ride of the Valkyries? The gathering rainclouds of impending apocalypse? Perhaps sensibly, they went with the safe option of an Arsenal cheer, which managed to convey most of the home team’s elation but very little of the seismic shock, the existential befuddlement: like being told there’s no such thing as Belgium, or that potato waffles are actually made of fur.For...
Key questions about both sides’ forwards went unanswered in a game where Spurs and Arsenal showed their flawsAfter all the optimistic talk, the north London derby was a sobering reminder for Arsenal of just how much still needs to be done, just how pervasive the issues Mikel Arteta has inherited are. And while the victory lifted Tottenham above Arsenal in the table, and for all this in some respects resembled a classic José Mourinho mugging, it was a result that did little to clear the doubts about the manager and his approach. Spurs won because their defence was less chaotic than Arsenal’s but the picture, really, was of two attacks seeking an identity. Related: Toby Alderweireld punishes Arsenal errors to...
It’s hard not to feel we’ve have seen this all before and know how it plays out. The sense is the endgame has begunAs they prepare for the north London derby on Sunday, who would you rather be: Arsenal or Tottenham? For the past four years, it wasn’t a question that required much consideration. Even in 2015-16, when Arsenal last finished above Spurs, it felt freakish. The trajectories of the two clubs seemed clear: Spurs were rising, replete with gifted young players and blessed with a charismatic manager whose ideas were notably modern, while Arsenal were sinking in the dotage of a managerial great whose best years were behind him but whose departure would inevitably bring turbulence.Arsène Wenger’s retirement in...
The striker is close to driving Leicester back to the Champions League and leads Aubameyang in the golden boot standingsIt was the kind of prediction you could not help suspecting might come back to haunt Ashley Cole. Assessing Arsenal’s chances of keeping Jamie Vardy quiet with a backline consisting of David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac, the former England defender seemed confident enough.“They’re well equipped to deal with Vardy,” Cole told Sky before the match. “He won’t cause them any trouble.” But on a night when Leicester desperately needed their leading man to write another chapter in his remarkable story, the Premier League’s leading goalscorer was always destined to have the last laugh. Related: Jamie Vardy's late goal earns...