Arsenal fans slate ‘meaningless stats’ that show Granit Xhaka is the second best midfielder for winning the ball back out of the top six

ARSENAL fans have slated "meaningless stats" that shows Granit Xhaka as the second best midfielder for winning the ball back out of the Premier League's top six.

While figures show the Swiss star to be among the best for his dogged work in the middle of the park, Gunners supporters remain convinced.

Xhaka recovers the ball an average of 10.29 times over a Premier League game, second only to Liverpool's £40.5million enforcer Fabinho, 10.32.

The 26-year-old shockingly boasts better numbers than partner Lucas Torreira, as well as Fernandinho and Chelsea pair Jorginho and N'Golo Kante.

Despite this, fans were quick to slam the stats for being meaningless by pointing out how much Xhaka loses the ball which gives him more chances to win it back.

The former Borussia Monchengladbach star was blamed by supporters for conceding possession twice that led to Valencia's away goal in the Europa League semi-final.

One fan wrote: "Xhaka at no.2. That's why stats mean nothing in football", while another agreed, tweeting: "Lol what's Xhaka doing here!"

The midfielder's eagerness to recover the ball may explain why the £38m star has conceded more penalties with a single club than anyone else since signing for Arsenal.

Xhaka gave away his fourth spot-kick in the 1-1 stalemate with Brighton on Sunday that effectively ended the Gunners aims to finish in the top-four.

In October earlier in the season, he was guilty of hacking down Wilfried Zaha at Crystal Palace that allowed Luka Milivojevic to equalise and end a 10-game winning streak.

In January 2017, Arsene Wenger warned him to concede fewer penalties after bundling over Ryan Fraser in a 3-3 draw with Bournemouth.

That was a just a month after he elbowed Stoke's Joe Allen in the box in a 3-1 win – his first spot-kick given away in an Arsenal shirt.

Despite making three key passes, and two tackles while recording a passing accuracy of 90 percent, Xhaka then undid all his good work by bundling over Solly March.

He was labelled the world's "most senseless footballer for his challenge but other fans said March should "hang his head in shame" for "truly awful" diving.

But that wasn’t good enough for former Arsenal star Emmanuel Frimpong, who took to social media to state that he'd rather watch a one-legged Aaron Ramsey play.

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