Arsene Wenger has called on Arsenal's supporters to remain patient with his approach to not playing Granit Xhaka as regularly as they had hoped.
Xhaka completed a £35m move to the Gunners from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer but, despite his big money transfer, the midfielder has only started nine of 13 games so far this term.
Arsenal fans have been at a loss to come up with reasons for Xhaka not starting more matches due to his transfer fee and quality on the ball but, speaking to the club's official website ahead of Sunday's home encounter with Bournemouth, Wenger stated that the 24-year-old was still getting up to speed with the Premier League's intense nature.
He said: I'm very happy with Granit's commitment. I think he's developing well. He hasn't maybe started enough since the start of the season but he is adapting to a different league, a different way of playing.
Overall I'm happy because every day he's focused on working hard and I'm confident he'll get his number of games.�
Xhaka has featured more often in recent weeks after playmaker Santi Cazorla was ruled out of action with a troublesome ankle injury.
The Spain international sustained the problem towards the back end of the 2015/16 campaign, and was struck down with the injury during the 6-0 Champions League triumph over FC Ludogorets on October 19.
Despite maintaining the current unbeaten run in all competitions, Arsenal have won just three of the seven clashes they have played in Cazorla's absence.
While admitting that his side had missed the 31-year-old's influence in midfield, Wenger added that his charges needed to find a way to play without the mercurial midfielder.
Where's Granit Xhaka? We examine the £34m midfielder's slow start to life at Arsenal https://t.co/Urc6f0veoT pic.twitter.com/JDJ6FdIRBa
The Frenchman said: He's important to our technical stability in the team, to the quality of our decision-making and to our build-up from deep midfield to the high midfield.
That's an important stage because it gets the ball out from the defenders. We have enough quality players in our side to get around that, even if Santi a massive player for us.
We are good enough to find solutions despite the fact he's not there.�
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