Granit Xhaka is flying straight to Arsenal’s training camp in Dubai as he tries to get over crashing out of the World Cup with Switzerland.
Xhaka and Switzerland were knocked out of the tournament in Qatar at the last-16 stage on Tuesday night after losing 6-1 to Portugal.
The midfielder says it will be emotionally tough to deal with that but he is ready to throw himself straight back into life with Arsenal, who are top of the Premier League and return to action on Boxing Day.
The Gunners were dealt a blow on Tuesday after Gabriel Jesus underwent knee surgery, meaning he could be out for three months, and Xhaka wants to help Eddie Nketiah get ready to step up and lead the line.
“Of course, emotionally it is not easy. But this is part of our business, part of football,” said Xhaka after losing to Portugal.
“You have to recover well. The Premier League is waiting and, of course, I wanted to be here longer than this. But we lost the game today and I am happy to go back now with the team.
“I have something to achieve there, and I know the team is in Dubai at the moment doing the pre-season.
“I’m flying back to Dubai, going back to the team, and going back to the training and trying to forget the tournament now.”
Arsenal enjoyed a brilliant first half of the season before the World Cup as they finished it five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Jesus was a big thing reason for that and Xhaka admits it is a blow the striker injured his knee playing for Brazil at the World Cup.
Jesus suffered the injury while playing for Brazil last week against Cameroon and Xhaka instantly reached out to him.
“I spoke with him straight after the Cameroon game,” he said. “We have the contact between each other, with all the players we have here in the World Cup.
“It’s a shame because you saw in the first round of the Premier League how important he is for us. I don’t know how big the injury is, maybe two or three months, I think.
“But he is a strong guy. It’s a small injury for him I think, and we will support him. He knows that we are behind him and hopefully we can get him back as quick as possible.”
In Jesus’ absence, Nketiah is the next to lead the line and Xhaka has backed the 23-year-old to step up.
“We have to. We have no different option,” said Xhaka, when asked if Arsenal can cope without Jesus.
“We have the option with Eddie, of course. He showed great games as well in the past and we need to support Gabi first.
“We need to support Eddie as well, because he will be a big, big part of the next two or three months. But I am looking forward because we have the quality to bring Eddie there and to help him.”
