Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has issued a defence of Granit Xhaka by insisting he acted "in the heat of the moment" to fans booing him.

The Gunners club captain was taken off in the second half of his side's game against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, with the game poised at 2-2.

But as the midfielder walked off the field, the home fans cheered and urged him to hurry up which appeared to anger the Swiss international and he could clearly be seen throwing his hands up in the air and cupping his ear as the boos grew louder.

The 27-year-old then ignored Emery's offer of a handshake and walked straight down the tunnel while seemingly mouthing the words f*** off numerous times.

And Merson believes if Xhaka he had that moment again he wouldn’t react in the same way.

“Xhaka's behaviour was shocking but at the same time, he's hurt. He's the captain, he's getting booed off the pitch, the fans are going mad and it's the heat of the moment," the Gunner icon told Sky Sports.


“It's not nice and no one wants to get booed off the pitch, I don't care who you are. You could be the best player in the world and even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi wouldn't like to be booed off the pitch.

“Looking back now, in the heat of the moment, you're the captain and usually the last people to come off are the captains, then the crowd take it out on him. If he could have that one moment back, he probably wouldn't do it, but it's heat of the moment stuff.


“I'm one of his biggest critics but he does care. I've seen some people come off pitches and they don't care, they fly off and run faster off the pitch than they did during the game.

“It's a hard one for the club because Unai Emery rates him, he's the one player who plays every week so I would have thought Emery will want this to blow over really. I don't think it will be an Ozil situation where he says 'that's it, you're not playing for the club again'.

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“I wouldn't have him as captain. I would've had David Luiz as captain, which I said all along. Luiz plays every week, he's won everything in the game so you don't win everything in the game by being no good.

“I don't know about being a leader but he's a winner, he's been in winning teams and I've always said that he should have been the captain.”