Journalist Charles Watts has praised Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka after his goal-saving tackle on Joe Willock against Newcastle United.
What's the latest on Arsenal and Granit Xhaka?
With the Gunners still hoping to win the Premier League and the Magpies looking to secure Champions League football next season, it's no surprise that this encounter was full of quality as well as plenty of fight.
Indeed, it was a fiercely contested encounter that could have potentially gone either way but Arsenal's quality told on the day as they picked up all three points.
Goals in each half – first from Martin Odegaard and then an own goal from Fabian Schar – were enough to see Mikel Arteta's men win 2-0.
But the outcome of the match could have been different had Xhaka not made one brilliant tackle to deny former Gunner Willock from netting against his former club.
While speaking about the win on his YouTube channel, Watts handed the £120k-p/w star and 8/10 player rating for his efforts before highlighting the "special" challenge.
He said (08:07): ”Xhaka I gave him eight [out of ten] as well. That block from Granit Xhaka to deny Joe Willock was just something very, very special.
"It just looked a certain equaliser. How he got there in time, I have no idea, but he did. A really good performance from Xhaka, he bang up for it.
“There was lots of times when you thought: 'Oh, is he going to go over the edge here and get himself sent off?' Because it could have happened.
"But it didn't, he kept himself just on the right side of it. And it was a top performance from him.”
How good was Xhaka against Newcastle?
It's safe to say Watts wasn't the only one impressed with Xhaka on the day. For instance, in the player ratings for football.london, Kaya Kanak also handed him an 8/10.
The journalist added: "A superb all-round midfield display from the Swiss international. Two blocks to prevent almost certain Newcastle goals and then some passes in the final third to split the Newcastle defence wide open. Great leadership and fight too when things got feisty."
As per Sofascore, he also showed quality on the ball with 27 completed passes (the fourth highest for Arsenal), one key pass, and 3/4 long balls. And was key definitely too with two tackles, one blocked shot, and four clearances (the most from either side).
All in all, it's safe to say Xhaka earned his paycheck with this superb display.
