Xhaka bows out with double as Arsenal blast Wolves 5-0
Sports
Premier League runners-up Arsenal romped to a 5-0 home win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
LONDON (Reuters) - Premier League runners-up Arsenal romped to a 5-0 home win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, with Granit Xhaka bagging home two goals in what is expected to be his last game after an incident-packed seven years at the club.
Arsenal topped the standings for almost the entire season but had stumbled badly in the final eight games to allow a ruthless Manchester City to roar past them to a third consecutive title.
They finished the season with a flourish though. Trickery from forward Gabriel Jesus on the right saw his cross headed in by Xhaka after 11 minutes for an early lead in the Switzerland midfielder's 297th, and possibly last, game for the Gunners.
A fairytale finish was guaranteed three minutes later when the 30-year-old, who was close to leaving the club in 2019 after ill-tempered exchanges with supporters, tapped in following some clever interchange play from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
He spurned a golden chance for a hat-trick before Saka made it 3-0 after less than half an hour played with a curled effort. Jesus headed in the fourth after halftime while Jakub Kiwior made it 5-0 with 12 minutes left to play.
Arsenal ended the season on 84 points from 38 games, five behind champions Manchester City. It was their highest points tally since the 'Invincibles' won the title with 90 in 2004.
The Gunners will be back in the Champions League next season for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Ahead of Sunday's game, Arsenal captain Odegaard said in his programme notes that it was going to take a while for the team to get over the disappointment of how the campaign ended.
Mikel Arteta's side faltered in the final weeks of the season, losing to their main rivals Manchester City and teams near the bottom of the table as they threw away what had been a sizeable league lead at the start of April.
"I still can't explain how or why our form changed," Odegaard said. But "we have got a very young team still, the direction is good and it's up to us to learn from this season and improve again next year."
Arsenal were rampant on Sunday, with a host of chances narrowly missed in the second half after midfielder Thomas Partey had an effort ruled out for an earlier push on goalkeeper Jose Sa. The visitors barely managed a shot on target.
Xhaka, meanwhile, was substituted with 15 minutes remaining to a rousing reception. The fiery midfielder rebuilt his rapport with the fans following the 2019 controversies, which saw him stripped of the club captaincy by then manager Unai Emery.
Current manager Arteta toyed with reporters after the game when asked about Xhaka's expected departure to Bayer Leverkusen.
"You know that? News for me."
He said before the season he had challenged Xhaka to improve this year. He said the Swiss had responded by coming back to pre-season training four kilogrammes lighter with "this look in his eyes".
Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui, who took over at the club in November when they were bottom of the league, said it had been a lacklustre performance by his team but that had not taken away from the "little miracle" of securing safety from relegation with three matches to spare.
