PREMIER LEAGUE:XHAKA RETURN FOR ARSENAL

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka provided the North London giants with a timely boost before the busy festive period following his early return from the knee injury that has forced him to watch his teammates from the sidelines. The Switzerland national team skipper was not expected to feature for Arsenal until the New Year’s Day at least only for him to return to action one month earlier than expected.

Switzerland star Xhakahad missed the last nine Arsenal games in all competitions because of the aforementioned knee injury before he made his return from injury during the Premier League clash with Everton on Monday. The former Borussia Moenchengladbach player was absent for eight league games, with the other game coming in the Carabao Cup.

Xhaka sustained the knee injury that ruled him out of action for the last two months during the North London Derby clash with Tottenham Hotspur at the end of September on the Premier League football scene. He formed a good central midfield partnership with Ghanaian player Thomas Partey as Arsenal run riot against Spurs in the first half on the way to a 3-1 home win over their North London rivals. Emile Smith-Rowe, Pierre-EmerickAubameyang and Bukayo Saka were on target for the Gunners as they faced into a three-goal lead at the half-time break before Spurs pulled one back through Son Heung-Min in the second half.

Switzerland international Xhaka returned from his knee injury for the Premier League clash at out-of-form Everton, but he could not stop his team from losing 2-1 to the Toffees despite the fact that they scored the first goal of the game. Norwegian star Martin Odegaard edged Arsenal ahead on the stroke of half-time only for hosts Everton to score two goals in the last ten minutes to win the game and end an eight-game winless run.