Darren Bent says Arsenal players may be livid after Granit Xhaka interview

By Jordan Harris

Darren Bent has told talkSPORT that some Arsenal players will take exception to the interview Granit Xhaka gave after the Gunners were beaten by Newcastle on Monday.

Mikel Arteta’s men now look set to miss out on finishing in the top-four in the Premier League. They had the race in their own hands before taking on Newcastle at St James’ Park. However, a 2-0 loss on Tyneside has now left them needing a dramatic final day turnaround to finish above Tottenham.

Arsenal were awful against the Magpies. And that prompted Xhaka to give a passionate interview after the game. The Swiss pulled no punches and was extremely critical of his teammates for not stepping up and dealing with the pressure.

The comments drew criticism from Gary Neville. And Bent has now suggested that some of the Arsenal players may well be just as annoyed.

‘You’ve let us down’

“If he’s talking about the performance solely last night, then of course, I can understand it because he’s obviously he’s part of the problem. He’s come out there, he knows the importance of what that game means, not getting into the top-four, the performance, not showing up when you needed it the most,” he told talkSPORT.

“So from that aspect, I can understand why he’s frustrated. But from the dressing room perspective, I can imagine other players who maybe have performed more consistently than he has, probably looking at him and thinking: ‘the cheek for you to come out and say that when some of the performances you’ve put in this season’.

“When you hear him speak, he looks like a really, really good guy. But there will be players in the dressing room thinking: ‘well, hold on a second here, you’re digging us out. But look at you over the last couple of seasons where you’ve let us down as well and you’re supposed to be one of the senior ones’.”

Many Arsenal fans will probably appreciate Granit Xhaka interview

Perhaps some will have a problem with what Xhaka said. However, there will be plenty of Arsenal fans who will appreciate the interview.

They will have been baffled by that performance on Monday. So to hear the midfielder express those views will provide a small crumb of comfort.

He is not hiding. And he is not allowing anyone in the team to hide either. He will have said what a lot of supporters will have thought.

It would have only infuriated the fans had Xhaka defended the performance and the team. It was not what the supporters needed so soon after such a crushing loss.

And if some of his teammates took exception to his comments, that may perhaps lead to the kind of conversations that help Arsenal ultimately move forward.