As Arsenal and Man City’s season-ending title race heats up, Kai Havertz has praised his “classmate from 2001” for scoring his 20th goal of the season.
Arsenal won 3-0 at home to Bournemouth in the 36th round of the English Premier League (EPL) on Thursday (Jan. 4). Xhaka opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 45th minute, followed by goals from Leandro Trosar in the 25th minute and Declan Rice in stoppage time to secure a clean sheet.
On the 5th, Man City beat Wolverhampton 5-1 behind a manic four-goal performance from Elling Holland, leaving just one point separating leaders Arsenal (83 points) and second-placed Man City (82 points), who have played one game less. 안전놀이터 Both teams’ aces have been on fire. Arsenal ace Xhaka added another goal on the day, his 16th in the league and 20th of the season.
Xhaka became the first Arsenal player to score 20 goals in a season since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who netted 29 in 2019-20.
He is the first England international to do so since Theo Walcott scored 21 goals in the 2012-2013 season.
The Germany international, who is second on the team in goals (12) behind Xhaka, praised his former Arsenal youth teammate for the way they have worked together this season. When asked about the contribution of Xhaka to Arsenal’s success this season, he said: “Xhaka is unbelievable. “He’s unbelievable, he’s been brilliant every week,” he said, adding, “He’s only 20 or 21 and I’ve never seen a player like him. “England are very lucky to have a player like him. Xhaka is hungry every game and every time I see him on the training ground I feel really special.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was also pleased with Xhaka’s performance. “The level of consistency is similar to last year (14 goals in 38 games), with no ups and downs,” he said in the post-match press conference. “Maybe there are areas where he can be more efficient. I think he has something else that gives him an edge when competing with other players,” he said. “Not in the way he plays, but in the way he competes, he likes to win more than he did three months, six months, a year ago. It’s in his system now,” he said, explaining the key to his performance and growth this season.
With one game in hand
The title race with defending champions Man City, who are second with one point, is close. Guardiola is determined to win all three of his remaining games to overtake Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and complete an upset and a fourth consecutive title. 바카라사이트 추천 Leaders Arsenal have just two games remaining, at Manchester United (away) on Nov. 13 and Everton (home) on Nov. 20. Second-place City has three games remaining: Fulham (A) on Nov. 11, Tottenham (A) on Nov. 15, and West Ham (H) on Nov. 20.
Arsenal fans are desperate for City to drop one of those three games. “Very excited,” Arteta said when asked how he was feeling with two games left. “We’ve been fighting for nine and a half months and we have two weeks left. We really want to win the title, we are closer to it than we were yesterday and hopefully we can bring it back here,” he said.
