Whilst Mikel Arteta watched on as his Arsenal side stumbled in the title race, one of his former players was triumphant elsewhere. 

Arsenal surrendered control of the Premier League title race to Manchester City on Sunday as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium.

Whilst there are still six games to go, and the Gunners are only two points behind the reigning champions, the odds of the North London club coming out on top are now stacked against them.

In fact, Paul Merson already believes that Arsenal’s title hopes are now dead and buried.

Mikel Arteta, though, will still believe that his side have what it takes to achieve their aims for this season. He will expect his squad to learn a valuable lesson from this match and bounce back quickly, starting with Wednesday night’s trip to Germany to take on Bayern Munich in the second-leg of their Champions League quarter-final showdown. 

After the disappointment against Aston Villa, Arteta was clear with his Arsenal players in the dressing room that now is the time for them to stand up and be counted. 

Granit Xhaka lands title triumph as Arsenal hopes fade

One player who has made his presence and character felt this season, beyond North London, is Granit Xhaka. He has been a crucial figure in the Bayer Leverkusen midfield this season, since joining the German outfit in a £22 million exit from Arsenal in the recent summer transfer window. 

On Sunday, Xhaka once again played a key role for Bayer Leverkusen as they secured the Bundesliga title with a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen. The former Arsenal man grabbed the hosts’ second goal of the game, as he picked out the corner of the net with a long-range screamer in the 60th minute.

Xabi Alonso has achieved an extraordinary feat as Bayer Leverkusen manager this season. Not only has he delivered the club’s first ever Bundesliga title, but as things stand his side are on course for an unbeaten campaign. They are yet to lose a single match in any competition in which they have featured this season. 

Was it a mistake to let Granit Xhaka leave Arsenal?

Arsenal fans will not begrudge Xhaka this success. Whilst he had a rollercoaster time at Arsenal, by the time he left the Emirates Stadium he was a fan-favourite, and he played a huge part in making Arteta’s side Premier League title contenders again last season. 

There is even an argument, given the age of Jorginho and the injury issues that Thomas Partey has endured this season, that it was a mistake for Arteta to let the Swiss midfielder go in the first place. 

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