The irate midfielder told fans to ‘f*** off’ as he left the Emirates pitch, an act which his manager suggested would not go unpunished
Arsenal boss Unai Emery hinted that Granit Xhaka will face internal disciplinary action for his foul-mouthed reaction to being substituted in Sunday’s Premier League draw with Crystal Palace.
Xhaka, recently chosen as the Gunners’ captain by his team-mates, was left fuming 60 minutes in when he was hauled off for Bukayo Saka.
The hosts had let a two-goal lead slip by that point, with goals from Sokratis Papastathopoulos and David Luiz cancelled out by Luka Milivojevic and Jordan Ayew as Palace fought back to 2-2.
Sokratis went on to score what Arsenal believed was the winner, only to see the goal overruled through VAR for a foul in the build-up.
All eyes were on Xhaka, however, who cupped his ear as he walked off the Emirates Stadium pitch to the sound of fans’ jeers.
And Emery did not hesitate to criticise his captain’s behaviour while insisting that any punishment would be carried out inside the club.
“He’s wrong but we are going to speak inside about that situation,” he explained to the BBC.
“I want to be calm but, really, he was wrong in this action.”
Emery also spoke out against the use of VAR in Sokratis’ last-gasp strike, suggesting that Arsenal had once more been handed a raw deal by the technology.
Milivojevic’s goal for the Eagles was scored from the spot after VAR awarded a penalty for a foul on Wilfied Zaha, which was initially ruled a dive.
“I didn’t understand the referee and VAR reaction. Last week they didn’t check VAR for a penalty for us but we respect that,” he added.
“Two weeks ago there is one penalty for Pepe against Bournemouth, they didn’t check, okay. I don’t understand.
“For me there is no confusion – it is not a good decision. We deserved to win, we had a good reaction after they equalised, we scored but then they didn’t count it.
“We didn’t concede many chances apart from the penalty to score. Our reaction was very good, also the supporters help us in the last minutes to score the third goal and win the match but this doesn’t happen.”
Sunday’s draw leaves Arsenal in fifth place after 10 games of the current Premier League campaign, five points shy of Chelsea in the final Champions League qualification spot.
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