The Evolution of Xhaka in Arteta’s Arsenal
An analysis of how Granit Xhaka’s role has changed before and after the managerial appointment of Mikel Arteta
Never has a player had such a roller-coaster of a time in an Arsenal shirt as Granit Xhaka. The Swiss international joined the Gunners in 2016 with the reputation as someone who could score goals from distance and who had a bit of a temper. Arsenal fans were happy to finally have a combative defensive-midfielder who could get stuck into the opposition. Little did they know how combative he would be.
His first season with Arsenal, which included long-range screamers as well as direct red-card offences, is a microcosm of his entire Arsenal career. However, the current season has surely been the most emotionally demanding for him.
After club captain Laurent Koscielny left at the beginning of the season, Arsenal head coach Unai Emery asked his players to vote for their next captain. Xhaka won this vote and he seemed ready for the challenge having captained previously at international and club level. But, as personal as well as individual form plummeted, he became the focal point of the fan’s fury. This reached its nadir during the home game against Crystal Palace on 27th October. With boos emanating from the stands during his substitution, the Arsenal captain did not shy away from showing his frustration. He cupped his ears to the crowd, shouted “f*** off”, threw his shirt off and stormed down the tunnel.
He was not picked for the next three Premier League games as Emery felt that Xhaka was not mentally fit to take the field. Even when he returned to the team, he was no longer captain. Reports began to emerge that Arsenal were looking to offload their former captain as Xhaka wanted more game-time before the Euro Championships. All signs pointed towards Arsenal’s club captain at the beginning of the season being moving quickly towards the exit door.
Things changed when another former Arsenal captain, Mikel Arteta became Arsenal’s head coach on 20th December. Despite everything that had happened, Arteta stated his intent of keeping Xhaka and how he had big plans for him. Since then, the 27-year old has become one of the first names on Arteta’s team-sheet and Arsenal are yet to lose any of the 11 Premier League games in which Xhaka has played the full 90 minutes under Arteta.
A lot of this has got to do with where Xhaka is being deployed and how he is being utilized. With the use of heat maps from Sofascore, and data from Wyscout and Fbref, I have analyzed his performances this season in the Premier League under different managers.
Change in Role
Xhaka’s role changed considerably when Mikel Arteta took over and to illustrate this I will use his heat maps from individual matches before and after Arteta took over.
Both heat maps given above are for Granit Xhaka playing in the same position, on the left-hand side of a defensive duo in a 4–2–3–1 formation, against the same opponent, Sheffield United, but under different managers. I will reveal later in this article which one was played under which manager but we can clearly see that he performed very different roles in both matches. In the one on the left, he operated exclusively on the left-hand side, and most of his actions came while hugging the left touchline. In the heat map on the right, the 27-year old adopted a more central defensive role, acting as a screen in front of the back four.
Not only did Xhaka’s role change, but so did the role of his partner in the defensive pivot in a 4–2–3–1 formation under different managers.
There is almost an exact interchange of roles between Guendouzi and Xhaka in the two games. Whereas Guendouzi was hugging the right touch line and Xhaka was playing in a central position in the Bournemouth game under Emery, Guendouzi is playing a more central role and Xhaka is hugging the left-touch line in the game against Burnley under Arteta.
Even if Guendouzi was not his partner in the defensive double pivot, Xhaka’s role did not change much under Arteta.
Against West Ham, Dani Ceballos was Xhaka’s partner playing as a right defensive midfielder of a 4–2–3–1. Ceballos was made to do to the dirty work in front of the back four, whereas Xhaka maintained his role close to the left touch line.
In fact, Xhaka’s role did not change much under Arteta. He was given very clear instructions to play on the left-hand side of the field and not venture towards his primary position under Emery. Here are a few more examples of Xhaka’s positioning in other games under Arteta.
As can be seen, Arteta has used Xhaka in a similar role on almost every occasion in his set up. The few times he has had to change was when Arsenal were reduced to ten men.
Xhaka has played almost a similar number of minutes before and after Arteta’s arrival this Premier League season, however Arteta has used him more consistently in the same role as compared to under Emery and Freddie Ljungberg (caretaker manager for Arsenal for three Premier League matches). While looking at the data from matches where Arsenal were not reduced to 10 men early on, one can see that Xhaka was used less than one-third (30%) as a LDMF by Emery and Ljungberg, whereas he is used more than two-thirds of the time as an LDMF by Arteta. The more you play in a certain role, the more comfortable you get and that result can be seen in Xhaka’s improved performances.
The impact of this change in role for Xhaka has freed him from his defensive responsibilities and is playing more of a role in advancing the ball. After standardizing stats to per 90 minutes (P90) (to account for the player being substituted within the match), we can see how Xhalha’s role has changed under Arteta.
You would think that while playing in a more central role before Arteta’s appointment, the Swiss international would be receiving more, however his passes received per 90 minutes has gone up 10% under Arteta.
With a drop in pressures applied on the opposition by 33%, Arteta understood that Xhaka would be more useful in a different role. The role identified for Xhaka in Arteta’s Arsenal was to progress the ball forward from the left-hand side of the field. Progressive distance is defined as “the total distance, in yards, a player has moved the ball towards the opposition goal” and Xhaka has increased this metric by 32% under Arteta. The number of switches of play Xhaka makes during the game has also increased from 2.4 to 3.6 (an increase of 49%). Although these numbers might seem small, his maximum number of switches in play during a match in the pre-Arteta reign was 4, a number he has already bettered on 4 occasions in 11 matches under Arteta. This can show that Xhaka is being encouraged to play more expansive passes under the former Arsenal captain.
Xhaka has found a new lease of life under new manager Mikel Arteta and he has earned considerable praise from his new manager. Arsenal are yet to lose a Premier League game when Granit Xhaka has featured with their three losses against Chelsea, Manchester City and Brighton coming when the Swiss has been absent through injury. The goals conceded P90 with and without Xhaka jumps from 0.7 with him in the side to a staggering 2.4 without him under Arteta. Similarly, the goals scored P90 has increased from 0.7 without Xhaka to 1.5 with him in the team under Arteta — including scoring 9 in their last 4 with Xhaka in the team. Although the numbers from matches without Xhaka are just under 3 which makes for a relative small sample size, their dependence on Xhaka is a cause for concern.
Arteta’s Arsenal are clearly a different side with Xhaka in the playing XI, and his swift return from his most recent injury was positive news for the Gunners. With greater clarity on the role expected from him and freed up from his defensive abilities, one hopes that Xhaka will continue his impressive displays for Arsenal and finally find consistency in his performances.
