An impassioned Granit Xhaka accidentally swore on live television seconds after the full-time whistle blew on Arsenal's hard-fought victory over Chelsea.
The Gunners battled the Blues and the elements before emerging 1-0 victors at a sodden Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon thanks to Gabriel's second-half winner from a corner. The result was a momentous one for the visitors, restoring them to top spot in the Premier League after Manchester City temporarily leapfrogged them with a dramatic win over Fulham one day earlier.
With just one game remaining until the mid-season break for the World Cup, Arsenal can guarantee they will be top of the table at Christmas with victory over Wolves on Saturday. Mikel Arteta's side had to fight hard to defeat their bitter London rivals and, yet again, Xhaka was at the centre of their spirited performance.
Moments after the game finished, the Swiss international was interviewed by BT Sport broadcaster Des Kelly as he was serenaded by the away end. In a brief lapse of concentration, Xhaka motioned to the travelling fans and declared: "You see the atmosphere, it's f****ing unbelievable!"
A laughing Kelly had to apologise for the midfielder's fruity comment, while Jake Humphrey later echoed those sentiments in the studio. Once he had been reminded to watch his language, Xhaka continued: "Yeah, you can see the atmosphere is unbelievable. I mean, from the start until the end, I think we deserved to win today.
"We was much, much, much the better team today. And, yeah, we are so happy that everything is going well at the moment. We are keeping everything that the coaches are telling us and these are the results."
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Asked about how Arsenal had to "grind out" the result, Xhaka responded: "Listen, after the season, nobody asks you how you win in November or December or January. So, we are trying to get a lot of points as possible and after, let's see where we head."
Xhaka was involved in a spat towards the end of the fixture and appeared to clash with Jorginho in the closing stages. Quizzed on whether fiery encounters are to be expected when playing Chelsea, he added: "Of course, these two teams have a big history, even if they play against each other. And this is football, sometimes you need stuff like."
Arsenal had added pressure heading into their fixture against the Blues after witnessing Erling Haaland score a 95th-minute penalty to secure victory for defending-champions City - who played the majority of their game with 10 men after Joao Cancelo's red card - on Saturday. "Yeah, a little bit lucky for them but if you play over 60 minutes with one less, I think, in the end, you deserve to win."
