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Crooks not a fan of Xhaka

BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks still isn’t on the Granit Xhaka hype train.

The 29-year-old captained the Gunners to a 3-0 victory over Brentford on Sunday and looks reborn.

Fans, despite a sour past, are now singing his name.

However, Crooks still isn’t a fan.

Crooks wrote in his Team of the Week column: “I don’t like Granit Xhaka. I find him confrontational, overly aggressive and altogether irritating.

“Nevertheless, on his day he’s a very good player. He should have left Arsenal years ago.

“However, for some reason he has not only stayed at the club, but also occasionally wears the captain’s armband, such is his popularity these days.

“Against Brentford he looked very impressive and so did Arsenal.

“I would like to know why Brentford didn’t look up for this game, but the Gunners were so good I rather suspect that even if they had it wouldn’t have changed anything – Arsenal were that good. Most worrying.”