Arsenal supporters will be delighted to see the improvement in one of their star midfielders this season.

Statistics compiled by The Mirror have revealed how Granit Xhaka has become a top class box-to-box midfielder for Mikel Arteta's team.

Despite coming in for criticism from Gunners supporters earlier in his career, Xhaka is now a firm fan favourite and the first name on Arteta's team sheet.

Barry Watters, STATSports Head of Sport Science, said: “In how Arsenal play and how Granit Xhaka is used in that system - he is a box-to-box midfielder with serious energy getting around the field.

“Hence, we see high total distance and m/min here for Xhaka, due to his role both in attack and defence. He drops in when Arsenal lose position and when in position, he plays in line with [Martin] Odegaard and offers an attacking option.

“His High Intensity Distance (HMLD) metric is really strong – which is down to his role in midfield and lots of sharp short bursts of acceleration and decelerations, making space to receive the ball in possession and closing the ball down when out of position.

“His big HSR metric is achieved in areas where he has space to run into on the counterattack, or if they lose the ball and he needs to transition to get deep and protect the back four and break up play.

“He is likely quicker than 34.09 (Km/h) if he had a straight 60m run but he never really gets that opportunity in game, so the speeds here are game and tactic-based game related max speeds."