Granit Xhaka has been a revelation since returning to the Arsenal starting XI under Freddie Ljungberg and that's only continued under Mikel Arteta.

Handing the Swiss midfielder upon his return to the club, Arteta has backed up his talk, making Xhaka one of the key components to his new-look Arsenal. He initially excelled on the right side of midfield under Ljungberg under the Spaniard he has been used primarily on the left.

On his natural side, he has played a crucial part in both Arsenal's build-up play and how they win the ball back. With Sead Kolasinac in the team, he often curls passes down the wing to free the Bosnian whereas in central areas, he has been able to cut out opposition attacks much better than before.

Xhaka is still evolving under Arteta, however, as against Leeds United, the Spaniard looked to add two more facets to his game.

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The 27-year-old already tended to hang back when needed but in the 1-0 victory, Arteta seemed to have a purpose behind Xhaka's deep positioning.

Rather than using him as the outlet from deep like he was at Everton, Bournemouth and Manchester United, Xhaka was the player that allowed others to express themselves. In particular, this could be seen in the way he interacted with David Luiz on the night.

How Granit Xhaka was used to free David Luiz

Since Mikel Arteta's arrival, there has been an evident focus on the Brazilian's defending. Much more pro-active than he was in his first five months at Arsenal, Luiz's passing ability has taken a back seat in these games. Against Leeds, however, Arteta tried to bring these qualities back into the side.

Xhaka starts this sequence as part of the two-man pivot with Matteo Guendouzi. As he is pressed, he offloads the ball to David Luiz.

Rather than standing like a statue and being oblivious to what's happening around him, when the Brazilian takes the ball forward, Xhaka fills the space he left. Now, his marker attacks Luiz who has a great space to run into now that it has been vacated.

In this instance, Luiz isn't able to retain possession well due to Patrick Bamford's excellent work tracking him down. Nevertheless, this was a routine that was run at various points during the game making it clear to see that now Luiz somewhat has defending down, Arteta is comfortable for him to act as an attacking outlet again.

How this could effect the Granit Xhaka/Sead Kolasinac relationship

In the long term, allowing Luiz to join Xhaka as one of Arsenal's deep playmakers will be beneficial. He has already shown his unrivalled passing range at the Emirates this season which has indirectly led to goals vs Burnley and Wolves.

Now, it's just about finding a pattern to properly use him in this way. Xhaka and Sead Kolasinac have created passing patterns down the left - as touched on in the post-match analysis vs Manchester United - which involve the left-sided forward. But as the point of attack is now switched to a right-footed player, how will Arteta try to unlock Kolasinac?

Importantly, the first steps of the pattern aren't too dissimilar to the first example. Instead, rather than swapping places with Luiz, Xhaka joins him as a left-back, taking a marker with him and creating the space for Luiz to move into.

Although the first stage of this move was well-worked, the second stage wasn't. Now that Xhaka had filled in at left-back, Kolasinac should have been braking a neck to reach the highlighted space, creating a passing option over the top in the process.

Instead, he held his position, forcing Alexandre Lacazette to drop all the way back to the halfway line. Luiz was being pressured by Bamford yet again which meant he had to release the ball too early for the Frenchman to control.

Xhaka is making the instrumental first steps to unlock these new passing patterns but of course, they will take time to flourish properly. Pretty much having a full week to work on these patterns ahead of Crystal Palace, this could look much better by the weekend, however.

Granit Xhaka's more complete role in Mikel Arteta's midfield

What was also apparent during the triumph over Leeds was how much more of an athletic performance Xhaka produced. Especially under Unai Emery, the Swiss was expected to stay in the middle third of the pitch.

His passing ability allowed him to somewhat succeed but his lack of agility constantly held him him back. If he wasn't being caught when turning with the ball then he was being targeted by teams on the counter attack.

Now, however, Xhaka looks like a player who is finally acclimatising to the pace of English football. Against Everton in particular, he looked particularly agile when winning the ball back in midfield, spinning away from tacklers and edging up the pitch. But against Leeds, he truly took this to a new level.

Anticipating Leeds' throw expertly, he was able to nip in front of Luke Ayling to take the ball in his stride. Without stopping, he charged up and into the Leeds half of the pitch.

Ayling is still chasing him but at full pelt, Xhaka is doing well to keep the attack going. Lacazette recognises the Swiss will stay central so makes a smart run out the space on the left wing. Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe also try to support the 27-year-old.

Similar to when building up play, the first stage was done well but the finishing touch was missing. As he entered the final third, Xhaka was way too preoccupied with looking at the ball. As a result, he lost Lacazette's run and didn't see Ozil underlapping inside him.

Losing control of the ball, he tried to play it forward but over-hit the pass which went out for a goal kick.

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The way in which Arteta is trying to further develop Xhaka has promising signs but it's clear these are things that will need to be worked on over the coming games. The initial structures and ideas are laid out but there just needs to be more practice with the final stages of each.

Against Manchester United, Kolasinac showed he can still bomb forward to good effect which needs to be replicated when Xhaka drops to allow Luiz to advance. As for Xhaka actively taking the ball forward, this may take longer to fully develop as sliding through passes between defences while dribbling at high speeds has never been a Xhaka speciality.

Facing Palace may prove to be a good test for working on these patterns of play, however. Roy Hodgson's side won't be the easiest to break down so if Arteta looks for unorthodox ways to do so, he could be in luck. Rather than using Xhaka in a predictable way, having him fulfil more unexpected roles may just catch Palace out as well as give him more practice in what is needed from him.