Arsenal’s 2016-17 Naughty or Nice list

NAUGHTY – Granit Xhaka

It has been a strange few months for Granit Xhaka since making a £35 million move from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer.

A few stellar displays, like against Tottenham, have been intertwined with some disappointing ones, like against Manchester City, while a few cracking goals have been intertwined with a few needless yellow cards.

On the whole, Xhaka has done alright since arriving at the Emirates, but you can’t help feel that he needs to do more in 2017 to be the excellent midfielder they signed in the summer.

The disciplinary aspect, as Wenger acknowledged a while back, is a concern, but he has now gone eight games without a caution, albeit he did, deliberately or not, clumsily elbow Joe Allen a few weeks ago.

Nonetheless, there is still that concern that something like that could happen again and, alongside his need to step it up in the big games, more is expected of Xhaka in the New Year.