Ex-Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour has come to the defence of Granit Xhaka following his poor performance in the North London derby. The Swiss international gave away a penalty in the game and has been heavily criticised by pundits and fans.

When asked about the midfielder’s ability, Parlour claimed that the 27-year-old is a good player but he put in a poor display against Tottenham at the weekend:

“Xhaka is good on the ball, he’s decent! He can spray passes 25 or 30 yards no problem, he’s very good at doing that. Sometimes he fits in and keeps it simple, but at the weekend he didn’t have a good game.”

“You know when you’ve not had a good game as a player and I’m sure he knew that at the end but he’s got to get back now, he’s skipper, he can’t let it worry him.”

“Xhaka has just got to calm down sometimes, he’s got to be a bit cleverer, you’ve got to be clever as a player. When you’re captain you can’t make mistakes like he did and give the other team opportunities to score goals.”

It must be said that the best players save their best performances for the biggest games and Xhaka certainly didn’t perform to the level expected of him in the 2-2 draw.

After being handed the captain’s armband, you would have expected a calm and composed game from the skipper, but the Swiss star was rash and gave away a number of poor fouls.

With manager Unai Emery having a number of midfield options to choose from, it will be interesting to see whether Xhaka starts against Watford after the international break.