Granit Xhaka urges Arsenal unity as critics try to ‘kill’ the players’ spirit

Alex Young @alexwsyoung23 August 2021

Granit Xhaka has urged his Arsenal team-mates to stick together and not let the critics “kill” their spirit.

Arsenal suffered defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Sunday and they have now lost their opening two Premier League games without scoring a goal.

The team were booed off at half-time and full-time against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium, while they also came under fire from pundits too.

Next up, the Gunners face a trip to West Brom in the Carabao Cup before a clash with Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday.

Asked if Arsenal can be motivated by the outside noise, Xhaka said: “Of course. The other way is by staying together.

Arsenal v Chelsea - Premier League
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

“A lot of people try to speak and to kill a little bit the players and the team. But the strongest thing to do at the moment is to be together, and only together will we be stronger and give the results on the pitch after.

"We want to achieve something big, of course. After two games a lot of people are speaking about this team and about this club but I will say no season finishes after two or three games.

“We still have games still in front of us, we know we have to improve a lot of things and I'm sure we will do that.

“I don't think the season is over after two games. We know we lost the two games and we are very disappointed, but we have still many, many, many games to go.

“A season never ends after two, three or four games. We know we have to do better things, but this will come soon, and as I say, we have to believe in each other so we can come out from this.

At one point this summer, it looked like Xhaka would leave the club amid strong interest from Roma - but he has since agreed to extend his contract by a year.

And speaking to arsenal.com he said: “I'm very happy, I'm still here. I've signed a new contract of course and I want to give back, first of all to our staff, and then after to our fans, and they know I will give everything - in every game and every training session.

“So yeah, I think we have to show that as a team soon.”

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