As is the case with most young players, it has taken him a bit of time to settle into the way of playing at Arsenal which is a massive jump from playing for Charlton. He has huge heart and never leaves anything behind on the pitch. Trying to push ahead of Bacary Sagna is the impossible task but as
Rumours were floating around that Park had started to look impressive in training and when it came to the next round of the Carling cup against Bolton, Park showed his quality with some neat touches and
Arshavin made his name at the Euro 2008 where he played behind Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. He hasn't been able to play that role for Arsenal because it was occupied by then captain Cesc Fabregas. Now that the Spaniard has departed and the creative void has yet to be filled consistently in his absence. Arshavin has often been overlooked in that position
Out of the blue Arsenal snapped up the experienced Brazilian International from Turkish side Fenerbahçe in which is played 52 times scoring 10 goals. A strike rate that Emile Heskey would be proud of. At just over £6m he looks like a bargain. Santos looks like a powerful, yet very skilful wide player who will probably enjoy bombing forward down the Emirates turf. When Gael Clichy was at Arsenal, we usually had Sagna pushing forward to provide the width and crossing while Clichy stayed
Once again we started the game without captain Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. Laurent Koscielny, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott also missed the game through injury so we started the game quite thin on the ground to begin with. We still managed to put together a pretty strong team which
I was willing Henry to score just so we could cheer his goal, the result of the game meant absolutely nothing to me whatsoever so when the boo's rang around the ground at the full time whistle I was truly bemused. Honestly, I thought I had missed an incident or something
I am looking forward to Gervinho and Walcott having the movement, link up and artistry of Robin Van Persie. Marouane Chamakh is still out of sync right now and looks a shadow of the man that came in and hit the ground running last season. He gave the ball away frequently in the time he was on the pitch and did not cause the defenders any problems at all. Hopefully it is still pre season rust with him
Moving away from the defence for a moment, a few of the selections were interesting. Carlos Vela for me is not a right sided player. He is what I call a straight lined player who is too predictable to play in wide positions. Players like Samir Nasri and Ryo Miyaichi can go either side, can shift their weight onto one foot and then push off onto the other side. I do not see Vela as a wide player, suits the central
I find it very difficult to join the Carlos Vela is useless bandwagon that has been increasing in the last year. He certainly hasn't lived up to his potential thus far and it is even more damning when you do not break through at a club like West Brom, but there is so much more to come from Vela. His finish was typical Vela and I am sure most Gooners knew exactly what was coming when he wriggled through on goal from Rosicky's pass, a cool dink over the keeper and safely into the back of the net
Former England and Arsenal full back and BBC football pundit, Lee Dixon is a script and storyline contributor for I AM PLAYR, the first-ever point-of-view football online game. I AM PLAYR puts you in the boots of a professional player at River Park FC, allowing you to experience the life of a footballer,