Ian Wright blasts Xhaka claiming Arsenal captain has had ‘handful of good games’ in four years and must apologise
IAN WRIGHT blasted Granit Xhaka and urged the Arsenal captain to apologise to fans.
The Swiss midfielder mouthed "f*** off" after being booed as he was substituted during the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
Under-fire Xhaka, 27, faces losing the armband over the incident and club legend Wrighty has condemned his reaction.
Match of the Day pundit Wright said: "I don't like any players getting booed. But this is the captain. Now I think that they're frustrated with the fact that he's not run off.
"He's now goading them. We're talking about fans that have watched him in the four years he's been there have a handful of good games and he's treating the fans like that.
"He should apologise – that's the captain. He should be apologising. He should have apologised already. That's the guy they chose as the captain. That's not captain's behaviour.
"Arsenal fans have showed a lot of patience to him and the performances he's put in. He owes them a lot more and he's acted like that.
"He's the captain and he's got the responsibility to take that on board. He can't go and do that. I can understand the Ozil situation but he's the captain – the manager's got faith in him!"
He then cupped his ears sarcastically to fans and swore, before ripping off his shirt and storming down the tunnel.
Some Arsenal fans are calling for Matteo Guendouzi to be named skipper.
And boss Emery admitted: “We are going to speak with him. In one moment he was very hot. His reaction was wrong.
“Xhaka was wrong. Now we need to stay calm and speak to him inside the club about that reaction.
“We are here because we have supporters. We play for them and need to respect them, whether they applaud or criticise.
“Now is not the time to speak about the captaincy but we are working with every player to manage dealing with the pressure.
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“We can play with our hearts and sometimes get hot in difficult moments but must always be clever.
“I’ve had similar in the past but this evening the connection between team and fans was amazing.
“There was one small individual incident but they support us and we must respect them.”