Arsenal News: Xhaka Frustrated With Gunners Performance, Calls For Better Play

KEY POINTS

Granit Xhaka is frustrated with his Arsenal teammates' efforts against Aston Villa
The Gunners will try to rebound and build momentum against Watford on Sunday
Arsenal will have to win the FA Cup to reach the Europa League

Following Arsenal F.C.'s loss to Aston Villa, Granit Xhaka, who has been commended by coach Mikel Arteta for turning his football career around, could not hide his disappointment and has questioned the mindset of his teammates.

"In my opinion, you can't come here and play like this. It's not good enough and you can't play with this mentality," the 27-year-old midfielder said via the team's official website.

Xhaka also acknowledged Aston Villa's performance on Tuesday. He believes the team went all out and performed well, thus they deserved the three points that they got.

"They were more aggressive than us and deserved it," Xhaka said.

Xhaka said he believes the Gunners did not follow their game plan. He thinks that they had the right pieces but had too many fouls around the box. In all, Aston Villa was much more aggressive and appeared to want to win more.

All is not lost for Arsenal despite their path toward the Europa League becoming much narrower. The loss placed the Gunners outside the top six for the first time in 25 years. Arsenal's only hope right now of qualifying for the Europa League is to win their FA Cup final against Chelsea.

"It was not enough to take something from today, and we knew if we won today, the last game if we won as well we could have got into the Europa League, but now we have to win the FA Cup and we have more pressure. But we will do everything to win the FA Cup now," Xhaka said.

Arsenal heads into the last day of their campaign hoping to finish at least eighth. They face Watford on Sunday, and Arteta is planning to field his strongest players for that match.

"Ideally I want to play as strong a team as I can. We have to respect that there are a few teams in a relegation battle and we have to respect that as well," Arteta said via Sky Sports.

After that match, the Gunners will have little time to prepare. Next up for them is their FA Cup final against Chelsea F.C. on Aug. 1. Arteta hopes to use the Watford game to gain some momentum heading into that match.

"The best way to prepare for the (FA Cup) final is to give it 100% in this next game and get our momentum back," he said.