Francis Coquelin injury gives Granit Xhaka chance to stake Arsenal place

The former Borussia Mönchengladbach playmaker did not sit easily on the sidelines as Arsène Wenger stuck with a preferred midfield partnership, but following some eye-catching cameos, most recently in the 3-0 defeat of Chelsea, Xhaka now has the chance to start on merit

Granit Xhaka was not happy. Anybody who knows the Arsenal midfielder will tell you that he cannot understand why he would be omitted from the starting XI. To him, there is never a satisfactory explanation. But there he was, for the Premier League derby at home to Chelsea on Saturday, once again watching the kick-off from the bench.

Xhaka has started only three of Arsenal’s eight fixtures this season – one of them was the EFL Cup win at Nottingham Forest last Tuesday – and it is a fair bet that he did not envisage such a situation when he agreed his eye‑catching £35m transfer from Borussia Mönchengladbach to north London at the end of May.

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from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2d1mQE6