A “devastated” Granit Xhaka will miss Arsenal’s Carabao Cup trip to Liverpool as Unai Emery considers whether to strip him of the captaincy and urged him to apologise to their fans.
Xhaka, who responded with an expletive to supporters after he was booed when substituted in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, has accepted he made a mistake by reacting to their jeers.
But while Emery advised Xhaka to say sorry, he said his immediate priority is the midfielder’s well-being as he spoke of the Switzerland international’s pain and urged fans to back his players.
He said: “I think when we make individual mistakes, we need to make apologies. I prefer to do. We suggested to him he do it. He was wrong on Sunday and it was not the response as the captain.
“But now the response we are seeing is he is devastated, sad. We spoke yesterday and Sunday night and this morning. He is sad about that situation. He is down. The most important thing now is to look after him, his family, the club and the team, and also recover our best Granit Xhaka.
“His commitment is great every time. He wants to help. His behaviour was perfect in training, with the group and club. Really, he knows he was wrong. He feels inside, very deep. It’s normal as a human. Every player needs the supporters’ support. His feeling... we need our family, our friends, our supporters to support us, like us, love us. He’s not feeling that with the supporters.”
While the Swiss FA issued a statement saying Xhaka will remain their captain, Emery refused to confirm if the 27 year old, who was voted Arsenal skipper by his team-mates last month, will keep the armband.
“I do not want to speak about that,” the Spaniard said. “We need to do step by step. First is recover him as a human, as a player. Then how we can continue in that way with the team, with him, with everybody. We cannot anticipate the circumstances.”
Emery endorsed Xhaka as a character, adding: “He has the values, the respect in the dressing room, experience. He has the conditions to be the captain. The players respect that.”
Arsenal will also rest top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and defenders David Luiz and Calum Chambers for the visit to Merseyside on Wednesday.
Mesut Ozil, who has only made two appearances this season, will be in the squad after Emery held talks with the World Cup winner on Tuesday.
Without Xhaka and Aubameyang, it creates the strange possibility Ozil could captain Arsenal at Anfield – Hector Bellerin and Alexandre Lacazette are other candidates – with Emery saying: “He could be, yes.”
But Emery, who has said his decision to marginalise Arsenal’s best-paid player and former club record signing was made along with the club’s powerbrokers, insisted his view on Ozil has not changed.
He explained: “That conversation was because I wanted to listen about how he was thinking now to help us. I want now like in the pre-season, like a month ago, for him to help us on the pitch.”
Liverpool have confirmed that Caoimhin Kelleher will start in place of Alisson in goal. The 20-year-old Irishman made his debut in the 2-0 win at MK Dons in the last round.
“We have Adrian, who did an unbelievable job [when Alisson was injured],” said assistant manager Pep Lijnders. “And if something happens with Ali, Adrian is our No.2 and then has to do the job. But this League Cup, it is Caoimhin’s competition.”
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who suffered knocks in Sunday’s win over Tottenham, are both available to play while the teenagers Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones will be involved.
