Granit Xhaka lost his temper with Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu during Arsenal’s win on Sunday, with Football London reporting that he was jumping around in frustration after the defender decided against passing the ball forward.
The Gunners proved a real point with their latest victory. Arsenal absolutely rode their luck. But plenty will be suggesting that they did what champions do by securing the three points.
Mikel Arteta’s men were not at their best against Leeds by any means. The home side missed a penalty, had a goal disallowed and had another penalty decision overturned in stoppage-time.
Xhaka lost his temper with Tomiyasu
There would have been a huge sense of relief at full-time. Certainly, it does appear that frustration got the better of some of the Arsenal players at times.
In fact, one moment reportedly left Xhaka fuming on the pitch. According to Football London, he was angered by Tomiyasu after the Japan international played the ball backwards at one stage. Xhaka wanted the ball played forward.
Tomiyasu did not have the best day at Elland Road. Obviously, it had been a masterstroke to use him at left-back against Liverpool the previous week.
But the decision did not pay off in the same way at all on Sunday. And with that, Mikel Arteta is surely going to have to give serious thought to starting Kieran Tierney again if Oleksandr Zinchenko remains unavailable.
Tomiyasu has been outstanding throughout his time at the Emirates. Only injury has prevented him playing more.
Having said all that, Arsenal will maybe feel that they learned a lot more from Sunday’s narrow win than some of their other performances this season.
On another day, it could have easily been a defeat for the Gunners. But no team achieves real success without enjoying a bit of luck along the way.