Despite being left on the bench once again, Arsenal new-boy Granit Xhaka made the most of his sub appearance against Hull City on Saturday, scoring a magnificent left-footed piledriver as the Gunners beat the 10-man Tigers 4-1 at the KCOM Stadium.
Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring on 17 minutes for the visitors, getting a touch on a shot from the superb Alex Iwobi. The Chilean then missed a penalty after David Livermore had been sent off for a handball in the Hull box.
After the break Theo Walcott made it 2-0 before Robert Snodgrass converted a penalty of his own after Petr Cech had felled Dieumerci Mbokani in the box. However, Sanchez struck again to make it 3-1 to Arsenal.
Then, in injury time, sub Xhaka took his chance to impress Arsene Wenger by netting a spectacular long-range effort…
Video: Granit Xhaka with an absolute screamer. [@ArsenalTerje] #afc pic.twitter.com/K6j88N8bRX
— Arsenal (@AFCvideosHD) September 17, 2016
After the goal, Xhaka put his fingers to his lisps in classic ‘shushing’ gesture. Apparently, all this was aimed at the Swiss media who weren’t impressed by the midfielder’s rumoured wish to line out for Kosovo on the international stage.
The win sees Arsenal go third as their season kicks into gear, with Xhaka surely now ready to start regularly for the north Londoners. As for Mike Phelan’s Hull, they still showed glimpses of quality, despite being a goal down, and will be confident of building on their good start to the season.