Since Arsene Wenger was released last summer, it has been a period of ups and down for the Gunners.
New manager Unai Emery lost his first two games in charge before winning their next 11 games on the spin and going until just before Christmas till they actually lost.
However, indifferent form in January and February followed by three defeats on the bounce around Easter all but destroyed Arsenal’s hopes of achieving their no. 1 aim – qualifying for the Champions League by finishing in the top four in the Premier League table.
Meanwhile, steady progress through the Europa League has kept alive the chance of a return to the main competition next season via the back door – by beating Chelsea in the final in Baku on Wednesday.
And Xhaka said: “If you come to a club and come after a coach who was at this club for 22 years, you are new here, you have to change little things, big things – it’s not so easy.
“If you see his first season, it was great, in my opinion, and if you can win a trophy and go back to the Champions League then I think it’s the perfect season.”
Climbing back aboard that particular gravy train is virtually the sole focus at Arsenal at the moment and after two seasons in the Europa League, Xhaka is certainly ready for the step up.
“If you see the club, we have to be in the Champions League,” Xhaka said. “We didn’t play there for two years and we have to be there next season.
“Of course it hurts when we don’t qualify. All the players, the fans, the club – we want to play against the best teams, and the best teams are in the Champions League. We want to be back there – we have discussed that as a group.”
All Arsenal have to do is beat Chelsea in Baku. Normally, no simple task, but at their helm the Gunners have a manager who has done this all before. Three times.
Emery’s three successive wins between 2014 and 2016 with Sevilla leave him just one trophy away from becoming the most successful manager in the competition of all time.
“He speaks with us about his own experience and how he won the trophy three times,” Xhaka says, exhaling loudly. “It’s a lot.
“I think he would be the first coach if wins a fourth so it’s nice if you are alone at the top.
“And it has to give him an advantage. If you are three times in the final in the Europa League already, you have a lot of experience, know how you will be feeling, what the pressure is and I think anything else stays within our group.
“He takes away a lot of the pressure but if you are in a final there is always pressure.”
He is referring to the fact that – for all Emery’s achievements – Arsenal have not won a European trophy for a quarter of a century.
Chelsea have captured four European trophies in half that time and with their place in next season’s Champions League already secured, the onus is very much on Arsenal.
“It’s time to take a trophy,” Xhaka said. “Arsenal? 25 years? And it’s a nice trophy! We want to do everything to take a trophy back to the club, for the fans, for us.
“But we won’t be thinking about if it gets us back in the Champions Leagueb or not. Chelsea want to win the Europa League as well.
“It’s one game – 90 minutes, maybe longer, but we have to give everything to take this trophy.”
