Interview

Xhaka proud of performance against Newcastle

Despite being held to a frustrating draw against Newcastle United on Tuesday night, Granit Xhaka believes we can be proud of the team performance. 

Mikel Arteta's side battled until the very last minute and kept pushing for an opener, but the Magpies stood strong defensively and made a number of vital blocks and last-ditch challenges. 

We spoke to Xhaka after the game and this is what he had to say: 

on it being a frustrating night…

Yeah, of course, if you don’t win you’re always disappointed, but we can be proud of our performance today I think. We had chances and the small details we missed today, but this is part of the game and if someone told us in January that we would be in this position, we would sign straight away. We have to keep going, keep working on small details and keep focused for the next game.

on the importance of remaining disciplined…

Absolutely, sometimes it’s dangerous in a game like this because you try to score, you try to open up the game as well and you are never really focused for the back, but we did very well I think and I don’t know if Newcastle had a chance today or a clear chance, but they have a good team as well, credit to them. They came here to take something and they took a point and now we are looking forward. In the end we can proud, not of the point, but our game and we will keep going.

on still being in a healthy position…

Of course. I mean, after this season the people expect to win all the games, but this is football. It can happen in games like this where we’re not so lucky and small things are missing. We will take the point, it’s only a point, of course, but this point could be massive at the end of the season.

on the importance of a good FA Cup run this season…

Absolutely, last season we lost after our first game and we know how important the FA Cup is for us, for this football club and for the fans and next Monday we want to do the next step forwards.

See Full List

Fixtures & Results

Premier League
Ticket Info