Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno has claimed teammate Granit Xhaka should not be castigated for his sending off against Burnley as he knows he made a mistake.
The Switzerland midfielder was shown a red card in the 1-0 defeat to the Clarets over the weekend after putting his hands around Ashley Westwood’s throat.
The incident has seen him come in for increasing criticism, with the incident the latest on a growing list of poor errors of judgement since he arrived at the club.
Arsenal fans are particularly incensed with the incident, having only just forgiven the midfielder following his outburst at them last season and the subsequent fall out from that.
Indeed, there is a growing sense that Xhaka has something of an attitude problem, having seemingly failed to learn his lessons from a litany of mistakes since arriving at the club.
Leno, though, has jumped to his teammate’s defence, with the Arsenal goalkeeper insisting his teammate knows he is in the wrong.
“Granit knows best that he made a mistake. Nobody has to tell him that,” he told Sky Sport Germany.
“The coach made it clear, of course, but that’s that for us. Everyone is frustrated right now. He wasn’t in control of the situation.
“It is not pointed to anyone internally, everyone has screwed up here at one point or another.
“Mistakes like this happen, but they shouldn’t be repeated.
“Even after being sent off, we still had the chance to equalise and win the game. For us the thing is now finished.”
