‘Not his fault’: Kevin Campbell says fans are being way too harsh on one Arsenal player now

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Kevin Campbell has come out to bat for Granit Xhaka after he received a flurry of criticism after his performance against Liverpool on Sunday.

Speaking on The Highbury Squad YouTube channel, Campbell actually defended Xhaka.

The pundit has, notably, not been Xhaka’s biggest fan over the years, but he’s defended the Swiss midfielder on this occasion.

Xhaka has been coming in for criticism over the past few days after his scuffle with Trent Alexander-Arnold seemed to turn the game at Anfield on Sunday as the Liverpool fanbase seemed to get behind their team more when Xhaka’s fiery side reared its head.

However, Campbell has refused to blame Xhaka for this, stating that there is always going to be an incident that will ignite the Anfield crowd, claiming that the Xhaka incident had nothing to do with the Reds equalising.

Xhaka not to blame

Campbell gave his verdict on the midfielder and his scuffle with Alexander-Arnold.

“The crowd had been quietened by Arsenal’s good play, but my point, you say that they were woken up, you’re always going to get that at Anfield, something is always going to get the crowd onside. The point is that Xhaka is getting blamed for Liverpool equalising and coming back, but it’s not his fault,” Campbell said.

Was going to happen

Xhaka may not have been to blame for Liverpool’s resurgence, but he certainly didn’t help matters.

However, as Campbell says, there was always going to be an incident that was going to get the Liverpool crowd going, and we saw that just minutes later.

Indeed, the fact that Andy Robertson was seemingly elbowed in the face by a linesman on the stroke of halftime would have had that rallying effect at Anfield and likely would have sparked a similar resurgence.

Sadly for Arsenal, that’s the reality of playing at Anfield, you’re not just facing 11 Liverpool players, you’re also competing against the crowd.