Granit Xhaka revival might be Mikel Arteta’s most impressive Arsenal feat to date

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Arsenal are threatening to finish the season with a bang after a turbulent campaign.

The Gunners have just beaten champions Liverpool in the Premier League and Manchester City to reach the FA Cup final, and spirits are high with the ghost of Unai Emery seemingly banished.

His replacement Mikel Arteta took some time to make his mark, but it looks as though change is in the offing.

The former club captain appears to have imposed a brand of football similar to that of his former mentor Pep Guardiola, and tightened things up at the back – which has been a major problem for a while.

But for all the changes to do with Arsenal’s play, Arteta’s most impressive feat so far is arguably the prompting of the renaissance in Granit Xhaka, who looked nailed on to leave the club in January.

The Switzerland enforcer was stripped of the captaincy for his shocking reaction to being booed off against Crystal Palace in October, and it looked like the end for him.

Fast forward nine months, and things are drastically different.

TBR’s View – Arteta’s finest feat?

Some will say that improving the defence is Arteta’s best work so far. Of course, that is a big thing.

But to forge a path back into the hearts of fans for Xhaka is something very few would have seen coming back in late 2019.

Xhaka’s display of petulance at the Emirates and ultimate loss of the armband was a crushing low for the player, but the Spaniard clearly saw enough in the £100,000-a-week star (Spotrac), with the Telegraph reporting he charmed him into staying.

Since Arteta’s arrival, Xhaka has been practically ever-present for Arsenal as a starter, and his performance against City on Sunday was nothing short of colossal and full of the heart that perhaps was missing under Emery.