Granit Xhaka praises Arsenal attitude but demands more killer instinct

Granit Xhaka has hailed the change in mentality at Arsenal but has warned they still have to learn to kill off the opposition.

The Gunners have won their opening five games of the Premier League season to sit top of the table.

A hard-fought 2-1 win over Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night followed a victory by the same scoreline over Fulham four days earlier.

Gabriel Martinelli hit the winner against Villa after Douglas Luiz’s goal from a direct corner had cancelled out Gabriel Jesus’ opener.

It was another Brazil international, Gabriel Magalhaes, who scrambled home the winner at home to Fulham as he atoned for costing Arsenal the opener before Martin Odegaard equalised.

Xhaka, who moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2016, believes altering the way Arsenal respond to a setback has been crucial.

“I think it was the biggest goal for us, to change this mentality,” he said.

“I’ve been here seven years and I saw a lot of things, good and bad things, but we were always struggling a little bit in this way.

“You could play good football, everything looks good, but sometimes the 50-50 ball, the 50-50 games, you have to take it for you.

“Then you turn everything around and you start to believe in each other a little more. I think the game-changer at the moment is the mentality.”

Asked if that change has gathered pace with the arrival of serial Premier League title winners Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, Xhaka added: “Absolutely.

“But this demand first comes from the coach. He has been here three years and he demands every training, every day to win. It doesn’t matter what we do in the training, if it’s ball possession, if it’s games, small games against each other, he is putting us on a list – who is the winner, who is the loser – and in the end you can see the table.

“Of course with Gabi Jesus and Alex you bring people in and they know what it is to win, but we can speak until tomorrow if you don’t show that on the pitch. They have helped us a lot for sure, but other guys are doing their job as well.”

Despite Arsenal starting the season with five wins from five, Xhaka still wants to see improvements in the way Mikel Arteta’s side control a game.

“We deserve the three points, I think, in the first five games,” he added.

“We have to learn, you can’t always concede and come back like against Fulham or Villa, we have to try to finish and to kill the game before that.

“I knew the project. The project was five years. We are now in the third year. It’s the half of the project.

“If you achieve something this season you can build from next season to something else.

“But it’s too early to speak about this season because we have still the Europa League, we have still two competitions in the cup, we have still another 33 games in the Premier League.

“But at the moment we are looking very good, very dangerous and we have to keep working, we have to keep believing in ourselves first and to take the people around with us.”

While Arsenal continue their winning start, Villa boss Steven Gerrard faced more questions about his future following four defeats from five.

They face reigning champions Manchester City on Saturday and Gerrard is hoping to see improvements he noticed after the interval at Arsenal.

“I thought we looked dangerous, we looked better in the second half, we kept the ball for longer periods and we looked like a team that can play,” he told avfc.co.uk.

“We do possessions every single day, but I didn’t see evidence of that in the first half. I definitely saw a reaction and a better team in the second half.

“We were much better and much stronger in the second half. That’s what I want to see.”