Former Arsenal stars Cesc Fabregas and Patrick Vieira have voiced their approval of Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka.

The Swiss international came in for criticism with the Gunners when Unai Emery was manager.

However, Xhaka is a player reborn under Mikel Arteta and is in the form of his life.

Vieira said: "Listen, I don't want him to change.

"This fire, the team needs it and he needs it as a player. He is a top player. I had a chance to spend a bit of time with him off the field and he loves this football club.

"He is passionate on the field and that passion, he needs to share it around with the other players to take as well more responsibility. I hope that fire inside him, he will keep it, because that makes him as a player."

Fabregas added: "I think he's got the same passion but he's not rash like before. He's not committing into challenges he cannot win.

"He doesn't need to track as much as a low midfielder, he's got cover, he's much more protected so he has this licence to go forward with a bit more of a free head knowing that he doesn't need to be the last man sometimes. He's not the fastest player so sometimes he was struggling against fast players in the Premier League so I think that this has helped him as well mentally."