Arsenal traveled to the FA Cup quarter-finals against Sheffield United with bad memories of Bramall Lane this weekend.
The last time the Gunners played in the stadium was a 1-0 loss last October.
The toothless display launched a win-less win in six games, culminating in the dismissal of Unai Emery and the appointment of Mikel Arteta.
After the game, former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra made headlines for his devastating assessment of the Gunners.
“I called them my babies 10 years ago and they are still my babies when I look at them, and that’s the truth,” said Evra at Sky Sports.
“I’m not disrespectful when I say that, it’s just the feeling I have with this team.
“They look nice, they look good, but they don’t look like a winning team. They only play good football here.
“When I looked at Arsenal, I was so happy to play against Arsenal because I knew I would win.
“Even when Robin van Persie came and I shook his hand for the first time, I said ‘welcome to a men’s club’.”
His comments hit the then captain Granit Xhaka.
The midfielder spoke out against the “Bulls ** t” claims and demanded respect when he seemed to be defending their character.
“Many people speak too much,” raged Xhaka. “I hear he speaks something against us.
(Photo: EMPICS Sport)
“I have a lot of respect for him because he was a great player. But you have to be careful what you say even in these situations.
“It’s not just him, there are a lot of people. They talk a lot of bulls ** t about us. It’s always the same.
“Maybe we play well sometimes, sometimes not so well. But if you don’t speak bulls every weekend, every game, bulls, they won’t get respect for what they say. “
Upon her return to Bramall Lane, the site of the word war, Arsenal’s new regime under Mikel Arteta Xhaka’s defense seemed to warrant it.
Although there are still clear questions, they have demonstrated their character in order to overcome a late equalizer by David McGoldrick and to achieve a winner in injury time through Dani Ceballos.
There are clearly shortcomings on the Arsenal side, but the determination was not one of them the second time on Bramall Lane.
Since Arteta’s appointment, the Gunners have been a lot harder to beat. Their most recent Brighton blip is only their second loss in nine Premier League games.
Overall, it turned out that the Gunners under Arteta had a lot more character in games where they may have previously collapsed as Evra described after their previous visit to Bramall Lane.
And that’s probably a key ingredient when it comes to really changing deep-seated views of the club and restoring past successes.
Fittingly, Xhaka ended the captaincy game after Alexandre Lacazette’s withdrawal when his team showed that he was right to put his trust in her with a public defense against Evra’s assumptions.
.
