Xhaka Stripped Of Arsenal Captaincy

The drama at Arsenal Football Club rolled on as their manager, Unai Emery announced that he has stripped Granit Xhaka of the Arsenal captaincy. This comes after Xhaka was involved in an angry exchange with club's fans when they played Crystal Palace.

Granit Xhaxa reacted furiously to being jeered when he was substituted against Crystal Palace 10 days ago with the Swiss star storming off the pitch and telling Arsenal supporters to 'f*** off.' He has been left out of every Arsenal squad ever since and will miss today’s Europa league trip to Vitoria Guimaraes.

Speaking ahead of today’s clash in the pre-match press conference, Emery said: ““I was speaking with him this morning and also I decided he is not one of the captains in our group. I decided that and I told him this morning. He accepted my decision. And also I told the other captains the decision. We need to carry on and focus for tomorrow’s match and next Saturday’s match. I needed to make a decision and now it is closed.”

On his replacement, Emery confirmed Aubameyang as the club captain with Hector Bellerin, Lacazzette and Ozil part of the captain’s group. “We have now Aubameyang, Hector, Lacazette and Ozil. They are the four captains and the first now is Aubameyang,” he said. Emery however refused to talk about the long-term future of Xhaka at the club.

I personally feel there was only way out of this after the incident and that was a transfer out of the club in January. Football has shown time and time again that there is always redemption for the “bad boys” so I would not be surprised if Xhaka wins back the love of the fans but at the moment it really looks unlikely.

As for Unai Emery, this was a perfect showing of authority. I however do not think it is enough to save himself from the recent backlash he has been receiving. This is because the problems at the club run deeper than just Xhaka. He really needs to sort his tactics out and start getting results since this is a results based game. The players don’t seem to be buying into his ideas and he really needs to sort his defense out.

With some fans already calling for his head,he needs to start winning games or risk getting sacked.