Arsenal boss Unai Emery has detailed how he informed Granit Xhaka that the captaincy was being taken away from him.
Emery has replaced Xhaka with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang following the fallout after the Swiss' blow-up with fans during the draw with Crystal Palace last week.
He said, "He's not here today but also I think we need to take time with him, first to protect him and also to be calm and training with us every day. But I was speaking with him this morning and also I decided he's not one of the captains in our group and I decided that and I told him this morning.
"He accepted my decision and also I told the captain and other captain my decision, we need to carry on and to focus on tomorrow's match and Saturday's match. I needed to take one decision, and now it is closed."
Emery also stated: "The future is Arsenal's club future, with the players that are here now and the coaches that are here. We have a match tomorrow (against Vitoria), a very important match for us in the Europa League and then on Saturday in that way we need to take some decisions about some circumstances that are happening. I say to you what it is about Xhaka and now is for the match tomorrow and only that is my focus."
