Granit Xhaka has demanded his Arsenal teammates show the same character that earned an 'amazing' win over Chelsea when they welcome Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Following three straight defeats at the hands of Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton, the Gunners headed to Stamford Bridge low on confidence and not many gave them much of a chance of beating a Thomas Tuchel's side that had won their previous three games in a row across all competitions.
However, as the old saying goes, the form book goes out the window when it comes to a derby and that was certainly the case with a brace from Eddie Nketiah as well as strikes from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka earning Arsenal a 4-2 win.
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What the result has done is breathe new life into the north London outfit's top-four chances after it had stalled amid a terrible start to April. With six games left they are level on points with Tottenham Hotspur - whom they play on May 12 - but sit fifth in the Premier League table due to an inferior goal difference.
Next up for the Gunners is a clash against a fellow top-four hopeful in Man United and after getting their Champions League qualification bid back on track, Xhaka has urged his teammates to ensure the performance against Chelsea wasn't a one-off after agreeing that the side have renewed hope for overtaking Spurs.
"Absolutely. We are there now again. We have six final games and the next one is Manchester United on Saturday. We have to show the same character, the same spirit," he told reporters. "We want to take the three points, we want to keep it [going] at home. And after the next week, I think, will be more quiet for us."
Xhaka went on to explain what was 'amazing' about Arsenal's win over Chelsea as he admitted it was the perfect response to those aforementioned three defeats in a row,
"Yes, I think so. The last three games were very disappointing for us, with zero points after three games," he added.. It is not what we wanted, but what we wanted was to show a reaction today and I think, over 90 minutes, we deserved to win the game today. It was a great team performance, tactically amazing, and it was a big three points for us.
"We knew what we had to do if they were playing a different formation. They changed as well two or three teams their formation, so we had to adapt and we trained all the week [on this]. We were prepared very well, you saw that on the pitch. Of course, it doesn’t mean you are good and organised every time, but the guys were working very hard without the ball.
"When we had the ball we were good and created good chances to score maybe one or two more, but in the end we take the three points like this. It was a big game for us, for the fans, for the club, a derby. To win today, like this, we are very happy."
