AmericanGunnerFan says:

I believe it when Wenger says that, if it weren’t for his defensive play, Arteta wouldn’t be in the lineup as much as he has been.

Offensively, Arteta has been something of a disappointment thus far. His passes haven’t found his teammates with the kind of accuracy expected from a player with his talent and, at times, he has been a little sloppy with the ball. A lot of this can be attributed to the need to get more familiar with his teammates and to refine his timing in what is for him a new offensive system. While improvements in these areas will come with time, nevertheless, Arteta’s impact on the offensive end has not been what was expected or sufficient to merit the kind of playing time he has gotten. His contributions on the defensive end, however, have.

Defensively, Arteta has been outstanding, especially in recent matches. He has been doing the little things that so often go unnoticed, but that can be crucial. When Song and Ramsey go forward together, Arteta routinely has been rotating back to cover in front of the front four. When the ball changes hands to the opposition, he hustles back as fast as he can to cover his position or help in slowing their attack. And, he plays his position defensively, whether man or zone marking, as well as can be reasonably expected. If not quite the “rock” in the midfield defensively that Song has been, Arteta has been very solid–particularly for a player considered to be more of a creative attacking force.

I don’t know if it has been due to Arteta’s work-rate on defense or to the tongue-lashing that Wenger reportedly gave to the club about it’s poor performance in it’s own end several weeks ago, but Arsenal’s starting XI has been playing better defense than we have seen in years, especially the midfielders and wing players. It would have been hard to miss seeing Walcott’s superb tackle against Dortmund, but Gervinho also made three superb defensive efforts during the match as well because he sprinted back to cover in his own end.

The most obvious of these three plays was the one where he arrived just in time to do just enough to throw off the shot by the Dortmund player who had a clear shot on goal from the center of the top of the box (before Gervinho’s last instant intervention) with Arsenal up 1-0. The second was a play where he sprinted down the left flank from the level of the 18 yard line in Arsenal’s attacking end to tackle the ball away from Dortmund attacker who had just received a pass in behind Santos about 10 yards from the end line. The tackle looked fairly routine and may have gone unnoticed by many, but what made it a superb play was that it came at the end of such a long sprint that many forwards would never have attempted. That play thwarted what otherwise might have been a dangerous situation, the third play thwarted what would have been a clear goal-scoring opportunity on a counter-attack by Dortmund in the second half. Playing on the right-hand side, Gervinho again sprinted from the level of the 18 yard box as Dortmund broke down Arsenal’s left side. As the break unfolded, Dortmund had a player unmarked running to the far/right post. The obvious play for the Dortmund midfielder who had the ball was to pass to the open player on his left…until, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Gervinho appeared and positioned himself between the previously wide-open Dortmund player and the ball. The Dortmund player with the ball hesitated and then, after another two steps, took a weak shot at goal that was blocked by Vermaelen, ending the threat.

While they haven’t been perfect–and we can’t expect them to be–the last couple of matches Walcott, Gervinho and Arteta have played very well on defense, which has allowed Song and the back five (I include the keeper in this as well) to play well also. It has been great to see this Arsenal starting XI playing better team defense…now if they can only avoid those lapses of concentration that have plagued them, particularly when they think they have the match won, and their substitutes (Djourou!) can show that they can play team defense as well as this starting group.