Rewind two years, and even one, and the concept an opposing staff must discover a technique to cope with Granit Xhaka would have been laughable. You would not have even counted on him reaching 200 Premier League appearances for Arsenal. But right here we’re. Xhaka reached the 200 mark on Sunday and, with three targets and three assists to his identify in simply 12 Premier League video games this season, the midfielder has reinvented himself and reinvigorated in his new position.

The subsequent query is whether or not he can stick with it as opponents pay extra consideration to him and Sunday appeared like a promising opening response. A yr in the past, and earlier than, Arteta’s Arsenal was predictable for rivals. Xhaka did not transfer upfield, the left winger tucked in, the left again pushed, a ahead 5 was shaped on the prime of the pitch, however it was simple to arrange and the opponent may simply argue who was whose man earlier than. the sport and persist with the plan.

Placing down Mikel Arteta’s staff has develop into rather more troublesome and Xhaka’s position is vital. With simply 692 league minutes on the season, Xhaka has now had extra touches within the opposition field in 2022/23 (43) than within the 4,201 Premier League minutes he performed within the earlier two seasons mixed (42). .

He was, nominally, Ryan Yates’ man on Sunday. Yates would watch and shadow Xhaka always, clearly trying to stop him from including to his already spectacular objective tally for the season. However Xhaka’s transfer, and the way in which Arsenal gamers now rotate positions, gave Yates and Forest a headache.

Usually, showing in a 4-5-1 and trying to frustrate a superior aspect, I might look to maintain the gaps between gamers as small as potential. However Xhaka’s motion always dragged his marker down and gave Arsenal teammates room to play. It was frequent to see the Swiss maintain his place to immobilize Yates and sign Gabriel to advance with the ball. With striker Taiwo Awoniyi compelled to close down Thomas Partey on the base of midfield, Arsenal simply created house for his or her defenders. If Forest had ever been enthusiastic about urgent, he would have needed to alter his kind fully, with Xhaka preserving Yates sincere by staying excessive on the pitch and off him, taking part in on the blind aspect of him.

And in case it looks like an accident that Yates, the Forest 22 is all the time near Xhaka, a case of merely being his direct opponent and never a transparent plan to mark the Swiss, adopted him not simply deeper or larger. but additionally wider.

And Xhaka by no means had more room than a second when he appeared on the opposite aspect of midfield having chased down the counter-attack. Clearly, on that event, he was too far-off for Yates to comply with and the message to face agency had not been conveyed to all the midfield, solely the one Xhaka confronted all through.

So Xhaka, who stood tall, as within the first photos, gave Arsenal’s centre-backs time and house on the ball, stretching the pitch vertically and preserving the Forest midfield sincere of their positioning, however even after that, Arsenal nonetheless needed to create possibilities. towards what one would anticipate from a compact midfield.

Xhaka’s transfer got here to the fore right here once more. He performed off Yates, generally slipping to the touchline in order that the house in midfield created could possibly be utilized by Gabriel Jesus or Gabriel Martinelli.

Within the instance beneath, Xhaka truly acquired the subsequent move, performed vast by Thomas Partey whereas Serge Aurier adopted Martinelli inside and vacated the flank…

…however these conditions typically noticed Gabriel Jesús choose up the ball. The striker acquired 5 progressive passes from Gabriel within the middle of protection on Sunday. Previous to the sport, the defender had discovered his compatriot with simply 11 progressive passes all through the season.

That ball down the center, and Jesus’ inclination to the drop, allowed Gabriel Martinelli to additionally assault by means of the middle of the sphere. With Forest trying to keep tight and compact, Arsenal’s makes an attempt to stretch them out noticed Xhaka and Martin Odegaard unfold out, creating overloads on the flanks because the ball got here in, and leaving Forest with a dilemma: comply with the midfielders and create house within the medium for the likes of Jesus, or go away them and find yourself outnumbered if the ball goes vast.

Whether or not shifting to the skin or sitting tighter, Xhaka’s positioning noticed him always off Yates (22), taking part in on his shoulder.

Steve Cooper’s aspect by no means discovered an answer and in addition failed to forestall Xhaka from making the damaging closing third runs which have develop into one thing of a powerful level this season.

The midfielder’s vast positioning noticed him repeatedly escape Yates’ consideration earlier than he doubled a run on the blindside of the person within the woods. There have been repeated warning indicators within the first half, with a kind of runs resulting in a Gabriel Martinelli effort being cleared off the road, and others going unpunished as a result of the burden on numerous passes simply wasn’t proper…

After which Arsenal had been lastly rewarded when one other related run from Xhaka led to the second objective after the break.

We noticed a staff have a transparent plan to cope with Xhaka’s transfer (critically, what a phrase) on Sunday and we additionally noticed it fail. He might lack tempo, however the midfielder has proven some actually sharp motion in his new position. Solely 25 gamers have had extra touches within the field than him this season and he leads the likes of Heung-min Son and Kevin De Bruyne within the stats.

Xhaka’s motion is sweet and he makes use of Martinelli’s presence on the left flank to attract out defenders and open up house to assault. Enjoying outdoors of the opposing midfield is nothing new, however it was nice to see it work towards a staff that appeared to actually have a selected plan to comply with Xhaka on Sunday.

A brisker, extra fluid attacking strategy started in the midst of final season, however solely this season did all of it begin to really feel like second nature. If Xhaka and his teammates can keep fluid and unpredictable, they are going to proceed to stretch groups and create openings typically sufficient to make sure this season is a big success.