Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has shrugged off criticism from his club boss Mikel Arteta following the Gunners’ recent stumbles in their Premier League title bid.
The North London side has seen their lead at the top of the table cut to four points after back-to-back 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham.
Both games saw the Gunners give away a two-goal lead, leading to Arteta asking questions about the “mindset” of his players.
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After the game, the Spaniard said: “When the game is there for the killing, you have to do it. When you don’t have that ruthless mindset in the Premier League, at some stage, the momentum will turn around.”
However, midfielder Xhaka insists mental strength is not an issue at the club: “This is not about our mentality, and I am certain everyone will see a reaction against Southampton on Friday. Everything is still in our own hands if we win our remaining games, so nothing has changed on that front. We go into our next matches with the same objective. We’re not looking at what Manchester City are doing.
“Sunday’s game was similar to the match at Liverpool last week where we started very well, scored two goals but couldn’t get the win. We need to analyse why this happened twice in a row. But if anyone thinks that we’d get to this point of this season by smashing all our opponents without dropping points, I think they’re not in the right position. We are disappointed, and when things are not going well, it’s easy to show the finger to someone else. But now is the time for everyone to be together. We have taken on a challenge which no one was thinking about before this season started, and now we have seven games to go, so let’s carry on.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal had the opportunity to go 3-1 up in the game but failed to take their chance when Bukayo Saka missed from the penalty spot.
But Xhaka is backing the Englishman to take a spot-kick again if needed. “The reason we didn’t win the last two games is because we gave away too many easy goals, and nobody is blaming Bukayo for the penalty miss,” he added.
“The guy is so strong mentally, so we’re not worried about him. It’s not as though we’re saying, ‘If he scores, the game is finished’ because there were another ten players on the pitch. He needs our support more, but he will bounce back and show a reaction in our next game. If we get another penalty against Southampton, I will push him to take it.”
