Arsene Wenger has backed Granit Xhaka to learn from his dismissal against Swansea without the need for him to intervene.
The Swiss midfielder received a straight red card with 20 minutes remaining of Arsenal’s 3-2 win on Saturday for a diving challenge on Swansea’s Modou Barrow, Xhaka clipping the winger from behind as he looked to delay a counter-attack by the visitors.
It was the eighth red card Xhaka has received in two and a half years at Arsenal and Borussia Monchengladbach, from whom he arrived in a £34million deal in the summer window.
When it was put to him that eight red cards in such a short space of time suggested Xhaka had a disciplinary problem, Wenger replied: “It is one. We are not responsible for the red cards he got somewhere else.
“He made a foul that could have got him a yellow card, that could have got him a red card. It was not meant to hurt anybody. It was just a late tackle to stop a counter attack that has been punished.
“I feel that he is intelligent enough to analyse that.”
Speaking after the Swansea match Wenger confirmed that Arsenal would not appeal Xhaka’s red.
Standard Sport understands that the club did not believe that the dismissal could be overturn despite Wenger’s contention at the time that it had been “a dark yellow”.
Francis Coquelin is expected to step in alongside Santi Cazorla in Saturday’s league match with Middlesbrough though Xhaka may well remain in the Arsenal midfield when they face Ludogorets in the Champions League on Wednesday.
