Mikel Arteta would be likely to have more freedom to get closer to van Persie. Defensively this would be very strong but I would be concerned with the team's ability to keep the ball if pressed intensely, it could also be a team that would lack creativity if Arteta was stopped. If Arsene felt brave then he could drop Frimpong to the bench, bring in Yossi Benayoun and drop the midfielders back a slot with
Liverpool came and went, then the Udinese return. Yet still I was in the midst of this out-of-body experience. Even the Man Utd game, which should have left me feeling like I'd spent a night dressed as a sow in the woods of Deliverance, couldn't raise me. It was a waking slumber from which I could not awake, no matter how many street parties they had on the streets of Guildford
Arsene Wenger is right when he says, confidence goes quickly and is slow to build up. The team are refinding their feet and has to do so with new personnel as well as missing first team players. This Arsenal team are still stuck in first gear, there is plenty of internal scope to improve upon and that will come. The most important thing right now was to get points on the board and we got that, we also have a clean sheet to pin to the wall. Alex Song and Gervinho will add defensive and offensive quality
Mikel Arteta has had much more time as he was not called up for Spain and has trained on a few occasions since his £10m move on transfer deadline day. Arteta will be an almost guaranteed starter today but his role in the team is yet to be known to Gooners. I am interested to know if we will go
A few seasons back Arsenal moved away from the 4-4-2 formation, after experiencing limited success with the lightweight Fabregas and Flamini occupying the two central defensive midfield roles. To accommodate the growing number of less physical but highly technical central attacking midfielders in the squad at the time, Arsenal appeared to change their formation to a 4-1-3-2 setup. In that particular season, Flamini took on the lone central defensive midfield role with Rosicky (left), Fabregas (central) and Hleb (right) operating in central
We have a very strong back 5 even before the arrival of Per Mertesacker. Our problem still remains our midfield 3 and attacking 3. They have to cultivate the habit of closing down the opposition when without the ball. Often we see them staring like passengers, which at this stage isn't good enough. Song should learn how to keep his position, sit and leave the ball players to do their job. Arteta has a