Granit Xhaka's future as Arsenal captain is in doubt after he appeared to swear at Gunners supporters following his substitution against Crystal Palace.
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The incident and result will see pressure grow on both Xhaka and manager Unai Emery, who has backed the 27-year-old amid fierce fan criticism.
"He was wrong, He was wrong," Emery said when asked about the situation.
"We are here because we have supporters. We are the workers inside, but we play for them. We need to have a lot of respect from them, through applause and criticism.
"It's not the moment to speak about that (if Xhaka will stay as captain). First, I want to speak with him and the club, and we want to stay calm before we speak about that. He was not right to do that."
Early goals from defensive pairing Sokratis Papastathopoulos and David Luiz inside proved insufficient to earn three points as Palace fought back to draw 2-2.
The video assistant referee overturned a decision to book Wilfried Zaha for diving and instead gave the visitors a penalty, which was dispatched by Luka Milivojevic, before Jordan Ayew's fourth goal in eight games secured a share of the spoils.
There was further VAR drama late on as Sokratis was denied a late winner.
"We deserved to win. They scored the goal with VAR, and maybe it was a penalty, so we need to respect the decision," Emery said.
"I was thinking it was a penalty but the referee decided no. The referee also said Zaha's was simulation, and I thought 'OK', but then VAR said penalty. OK, perfect, we respect that.
"For me VAR is positive and we need VAR. But we need to manage that in the right way. At the moment, to us it's not working well."
The result - and another poor performance from Arsenal - will be forgotten long before the incident with Xhaka as the Swiss midfielder plodded off in the 61st minute.
A decisive figure among fans, the fact he was being withdrawn was initially greeted by large cheers, which soon turned to jeers as he took his time to leave the pitch despite the score being level.
He reacted by waving his arms, cupping his ears and seemingly mouthing "F*** off" twice as he pushed away a handshake from Emery, took off his shirt and headed straight down the tunnel.
Australian Associated Press
