Mikel Arteta insists Granit Xhaka's decision to snub the captain's armband against Brentford was a misunderstanding.
The Swiss midfielder, who is a part of Arsenal's "leadership group", seemingly refused to wear the armband after skipper Alexandre Lacazette was taken off in the second half as the Gunners secured a 2-1 win over Thomas Frank's men at the Emirates.
Eddie Nketiah tried to hand Xhaka the armband as he replaced the Frenchman with five minutes to go, but Xhaka appeared to turn his offer down.
The English forward ended up wearing the armband for a brief moment before passing it onto Kieran Tierney.
But Arteta has played down the incident as he explained it was intended for Tierney who was "next in line" and the message didn't across to Nketiah.
He said: "It was for Keiran, he was next in line and that's why.
"Maybe Eddie didn't pick up the message and Granit told him to give it to Keiran."
football.london attempted to clarify the situation, backing up Arteta's stance that Xhaka, who has previously been stripped of the captaincy, by no means refused to wear the armband.
It's claimed Lacazette tried to give the armband to Tierney before he was taken off, but couldn't hear his teammate's shout as the left-back was preparing to take a throw-in.
The striker, therefore, handed it to Nketiah to pass onto Tierney as he was subbed off, but the Englishman was told to stay at the top end of the pitch by Arteta.
It was at that point Nketiah tried to give it to Xhaka to pass on to Tierney but the midfielder told him to hold onto it to hand over to the full-back himself.
Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe were the matchwinners for Arsenal once again and Arteta was full of the praise for the star duo who are enjoying a meteoric rise from the Hale End academy.
He added: "They have to get the headlines because they do what is most difficult and win the match by an individual action. They deserve credit for that, but I thought the rest of the team were very good too.
"We do a lot of work with them individually, mentally with the psychologists, to fill their belief. They see how they are with the supporters, that energy and that's probably their biggest strength.
"Smith Rowe been injured. He's worked really hard and when he plays like he did today, he's really good."
