Xhaka wrong to react to Arsenal supporters, says Emery

Unai Emery says Granit Xhaka was wrong to react to Arsenal supporters’ boos in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Gunners captain cupped his ears to the fans who appeared to ironically cheer him as he was substituted on the hour mark, before removing his shirt and walking straight down the tunnel.

Arsenal had earlier thrown away a two-goal lead given to them by Sokratis Papastathopoulos and David Luiz, with Luka Milivojevic and Jordan Ayew ensuring a point for Palace.

Speaking about Xhaka’s reaction, Emery told BBC’s Match of the Day: “He’s wrong. He’s wrong, but we are going to speak inside about that situation. I want first to listen to him and to be calm but, really, he was wrong in this action.”

He later told a media conference: “We are here because we have supporters. We work for them and need to have respect for them when they are applauding us and criticising us.”

When asked if Xhaka will remain as captain, Emery said: “Now is not the time to talk about that.”

We’ve made our first sub…

 Granit Xhaka
 @BukayoSaka87 #ARSCRY  2-2  (60) pic.twitter.com/DTCEG4BfOp

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 27, 2019

Sokratis thought he had snatched all three points for the Gunners when he slammed home with six minutes remaining, but a VAR review deemed Calum Chambers had committed a foul in the build-up.

Emery was not happy with the decision and feels his side were hard done by.

“For me there is no confusion; it is not a good decision,” he said. “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. Our reaction was very good. The supporters tried to help us in the last minutes to score the third goal and win the match but it didn’t happen.”