Arsene Wenger salutes ‘the new Petit’

Watford 1 Arsenal 3: Typical Arsene Wenger, stubbornly turning logic on its head.

While Arsenal’s supporters and critics agreed that he needed to strengthen his defence and attack, after missing out on the Premier League title yet again, Wenger went out and signed another midfielder.

Except Granit Xhaka is not just another midfielder, certainly not in the mould of typical Arsenal midfielders, short-passing, short in stature, attacking by nature. Xhaka is cut from different cloth to the likes of Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, and Aaron Ramsey, not just because as a strapping six-footer, he towers over them, but his natural game is to sit behind the play and dictate events from in front of the back four.