Arsenal continued their inconsistent run on Sunday, as the north London outfit failed to keep a 2-0 lead. The Gunners quickly found themselves up by two goals inside the first 10 minutes of the match; however, they ended up sharing the points at home to Crystal Palace on the day. While the result was disappointing enough, most of the talk following the match surrounded a situation between Granit Xhaka and the home fans.

Xhaka, the club’s captain, was substituted in the second half at a time when the score was level at 2-2. As soon as the change was announced, sarcastic cheers rang out around the Emirates Stadium. For the second time in less than a week, the Swiss international was jeered by his own ‘fans’ following a substitution. The crowd then began to boo their player when they felt he was wasting time by not moving off of the pitch quickly enough. Xhaka was then seen making hand gestures and cupping his ears as he angrily removed his jersey and exited straight down the tunnel.

Following the draw, head coach Unai Emery was asked about the incident. “Xhaka was wrong,” claimed the Spaniard. “Now we need to stay calm and speak with him. His reaction was wrong in that moment. 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.”

Emery’s comments shouldn’t come to any surprise. Head coaches/managers will almost always back the supporters in situations such as these. Of course, he is correct in saying that there needs to be a respect towards the crowd through thick and thin, but the same should also be said about the fans.

Booing your own players, especially the captain, does nothing but compound issues within a team. A toxic atmosphere, even if solely directed at one player, certainly affects the other players on the pitch. Xhaka was nominated as captain by his teammates and was given the armband by the head coach. Fans need to respect that. This particular incident was an embarrassing moment for the entire club, supporters included.

SEE MORE: Schedule of Arsenal games on US TV and streaming

To fully understand this situation, one would have to be aware of the relationship between Xhaka and the Arsenal fans prior to Sunday. Since his arrival to north London in 2016, the midfielder has been subject to plenty of heckles and taunts. Despite being given a regular starting place by Lucien Favre, Vladimir Petkovic, Arsene Wenger, and Unai Emery, many Arsenal fans believe the midfielder isn’t quite good enough for their team (to put it mildly).

Not rating a player in your favorite team is fairly common among fan bases. However, there is an imaginary line that people should not cross. Xhaka has been verbally abused, both in the stadium and on social media, and has even received death threats on his Instagram account during his time with the club. These insults and threats have not come from rival fans, but supporters of his own team.

Though it’s not necessarily clear how many of the more repulsive comments Xhaka has seen on social media, fellow Arsenal teammate Shkodran Mustafi recently claimed that he notices online abuse directed at himself. Xhaka, however, surely notices some of the abuse. He even went through a period of time last season in which he disabled comments on his Instagram posts.

The incident on Sunday most likely does not occur if there was not such as contentious history between player and fans. Although Xhaka should have definitely kept his cool in the moment, he is still a human being in the end. Receiving constant criticism, even after solid performances, would take a toll on anyone.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the near future. Whether or not Xhaka keeps the armband, the fans need to be careful about the atmosphere that they create, both in the stadium and outside. There is still nearly three-quarters of the season remaining on the schedule and a divide in the fan base is the last thing that this club needs.