Francis Coquelin
Now it’s easy to rant and rave about how Alexis and Ozil have shaped our season, but when you sit back and look at the bigger picture, you’ll see that Coquelin has impacted this Gunners side better than anyone.
In early December the Frenchman was still playing Championship football with a struggling Charlton side. Now, he is dominating a position that at times he has to cover on his own.
With statistics taken from WhoScored.com, Coquelin currently sits within the top five players for tackles and interceptions made on average during a game. Bare in mind that this 23-year-old started playing regularly for the Gunners in late December.
The thing about the defensive midfielder, is he never tries to do anything for himself, it is always the team that comes before him. He is never tempted to push on forward to get amongst the goals, because he knows his job is to protect that back four line, that let’s be honest, has looked a little shaky in recent seasons.
A position like his is something we were looking to cover for the price tag in excess of £20million, but I’m sure Wenger will be rubbing his hands that he didn’t give in to fans pressure. We won’t buy a defensive midfielder in the summer, we’ve already got the depth.
Coquelin can play their on his own as well because he has proved to Wenger the discipline he possesses. That has given players like Cazorla and Ramsey to worry less about covering, and instead moving on up the pitch to press any defence, much like we saw in the 4-1 drubbing of Liverpool at the weekend.