Granit Xhaka was one of the last players to head back towards the tunnel at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium, lingering a little longer than most in front of the travelling fans and holding up his hands in gratitude as they belted out his name.
Such a reception was inconceivable not so long ago but, three years on from storming off to a chorus of boos at the Emirates Stadium and subsequently losing the captaincy, the scenes in west London last Sunday underlined a remarkable change in fortunes.
It has been a long road to this point. As recently as February, when Arsenal last faced Brentford, Xhaka could be seen rejecting the captain’s armband after Alexandre Lacazette’s late substitution. “I was not ready for that,” he explained later.
This time, though, in the absence of the injured Martin Odegaard, he wore it from the start as Arsenal secured a 3-0 victory which took them back to the top of the Premier League.
It was, he said afterwards, a “very special and emotional” day for him.
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