GRANIT XHAKA issued a defiant rallying call after Arsenal surrendered more momentum in this nervy title race.
The Swiss midfielder insists that his team’s destiny is still in their own hands and that Sunday’s 2-2 draw at West Ham has changed nothing.
And he has warned anxious team-mates to ignore the noise of Manchester City breathing down their necks — despite chucking away a two-goal lead for the second time in eight days.
Even manager Mikel Arteta questioned his players’ strength of character in the immediate aftermath of the dropped points at the London Stadium.
But Xhaka said: “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.
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“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.
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“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.”
It was Xhaka’s bust-up with Trent Alexander-Arnold which rallied the Anfield crowd and then sparked Liverpool’s fightback from 2-0 down to 2-2 last week.
And on Sunday it was Bukayo Saka’s second-half penalty miss which lit the touchpaper for West Ham’s recovery.
That leaves Arsenal four points clear of City having played a game more and with a title decider at the Etihad a week on Wednesday.
England star Saka had not missed from the spot since the Euro 2020 final shootout heartbreak.
He said: “I’ll always accept my responsibility. Apologies, Gunners, I’ll do everything I can to make it right.”
Xhaka denies that the atmosphere in the grounds had anything to do with the back-to-back draws.
He added: “We don’t really care about who is waking up the fans or not.
“This is not our job and if the Liverpool or West Ham fans support their team, it’s not our problem.
“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.
“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.
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“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.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
