There’s not many players at the club that split the fanbase as much as Granit Xhaka.

As someone whose always quite liked him, I’ve never agreed with the endless Twitter discourse on his performances or the constant calls for him to be upgraded.

But that’s not to say that these discussions aren’t merited – he’s the only player in the current starting line-up to survive the Wenger and Emery years (although the latter won’t be too memorable for him) so fans have had enough time to form their own opinions.

The great thing though is that opinions aren’t set in stone. From the start of his time at Arsenal until end of the 2020-21 season, he had made more errors leading to goals than any other outfield player in the Premier League.

His great redemption came that summer at the Euros, where as Switzerland captain he led his team to their first-ever European quarter final, providing a man of the match performance against tournament favourites France.

He certainly took that success into the 2021-22 season and quietly established himself once again as someone who deserved to be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Behind the scenes, he’s been praised for his presence in the dressing room and you could see how much he was liked by his teammates in All Or Nothing.

He’s his own harshest critic and will never shy away from media duties, even after difficult defeats. I know he’s not for everyone, but I think many will agree he’s gone up another gear this season.

He’s excelled in the box-to-box midfielder role this campaign, already contributing to more goals than he did the entirety of last season.

I like that fans are warming to him a bit more and after what happened a couple of years ago, I never thought I’d hear his name sung out in the stands like it has of late and I’m sure he didn’t either.

He looks like someone thriving under new direction from the manager and as a fanbase I feel we’ve become more supportive of all our players in recent months.

So if we can cheer on players who have scored own goals or given away penalties, I’m sure we can find it within ourselves to give Xhaka another chance.