While we continue to bask in the warm glow of a deserved win at Old Trafford, it is time to consider whether Mikel Arteta is now close to knowing his preferred starting XI.

Have the outstanding performances of Thomas Partey and Mohammed Elneny agents Manchester United – both individually and as a pair – cemented their places as automatic starters?

It’s certainly tempting to jump on the ElPartey train after such a pleasing victory, but I would add a couple of notes of caution.

First, we have seen very little of Partey in an Arsenal shirt and of a Partey-Elneny axis in any game.

Second, it’s easy for we fans to get carried away with the most recent good performance. At times in the last couple of years we have lauded players like Mustafi and Xhaka who were previously on the naughty step; we have torn our hair out over David Luiz then sung his praises (in the FA Cup games in particular); Dani Ceballos was great, then a waste of space, then great again… Was Elneny’s Old Trafford performance a flash in the pan? Or a sign of a player who has finally found his place at Arsenal?

For today I’m ignoring wide midfielders and other formations (eg using Luiz as a holding midfielder) and working on the basis that El Patron will generally want to pick two central midfielders in most games.

His principal options are Partey, Elneny, Xhaka, Ceballos, Willock and Maitland-Niles.

You don’t have to agree with me (and you’ll have options to that effect below), but I am going to take it as a given that Partey is one of the first names on the team sheet, so the question becomes – who plays alongside him?

Elneny: even in his earlier spells as a fairly regular player for us I always liked Moptop Mo for one main reason: he hardly ever loses possession and his short passing game is excellent (I suppose that’s two reasons, isn’t it?). The downside was that he never seemed much of a ‘progressive’ player, often preferring to pass sideways or backwards. He has been more progressive minded in his most recent outings and I hadn’t really thought much about his athleticism previously, but his size is an asset and the clip of him sprinting to close down Man Utd players in the 91st minute on Sunday was an eye-opener.

Xhaka: how many words have been written about Granit? Most have been critical, particularly around the time last season when he threw off the captain’s armband and stormed off the pitch. I had sympathy for him then because I always hate it when one player becomes the lightning rod for fan dissatisfaction with the overall performance of the team. It looked like his Arsenal career was over, but Arteta brought him back and he was a crucial part of our run to FA Cup glory. He is slower than Elneny and gets around the pitch less well, but his passing range is greater.

Ceballos: Dani looked like the new Santi Cazorla in his first outing for Arsenal, then his form dipped (along with that of the whole team) under Emery before Arteta revived him. Like Xhaka, Ceballos was pivotal in our FA Cup win. He offers something different to Xhaka and Elneny in that he is tricksier, more forward-minded and has excellent close ball skills. He is also happy to put himself about, although he is less physically imposing than the other two.

Willock and Maitland-Niles: I certainly don’t want to discard either of these promising young players, but I think we have to accept that – for the moment – they are what the Americans call “role players” rather than serious options for our strongest starting XI.

So now it’s your turn to vote for your preferred central MF pairing.

If you vote for Partey-Elneny are you suffering from recency bias? Will that pairing really help solve our struggles at the attacking end of the park?

If you choose Xhaka-Ceballos is it because you’re still reliving our Wembley glories of a few months ago?

RockyLives

The pundits have loved beating Arsenal with the stick of not having won away at a ‘big six’ team since a win over Man City in 2015.

Well, yesterday Mikel Arteta took that stick, snapped it across his knee and shoved it up their collective Arsenal are the best club in the world. Ahem.

The nice thing about our win at Old Trafford was that the three points were fully deserved. We dominated the first half, coped well in the first 15 minutes of the second half when a reorganised United tried to get into the match, reasserted control and then saw the game out comfortably after scoring our goal.

There were encouraging performances in all positions.

The players who most caught my eye were Gabriel, Partey, Elneny, Tierney and Saka. In the first half I was complaining about Willian losing possession too easily, but on the plus side he was heavily involved and his work off the ball was excellent.

Lacazette is not in the best of form, but he was better against United than he was against Leicester last weekend.

I’m not going to go into a blow-by-blow account of the game. My big picture takeaway is that throughout the entire 94 minutes we looked like a team in which every player knew his job and worked his socks off to do that job to the best of his ability.

We had shape, organisation and discipline – three characteristics that are becoming a hallmark of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

And it’s El Patron on whom I most want to focus. 

In his eight months in charge, Arteta has won a major trophy (FA Cup) and a minor one (Community Shield); he got us into Europe against the odds; he has brought us long-sought-after victories over all our major rivals: Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United; and now he has ended the ‘can’t win away at the big six’ hoodoo.

He has given a real sense of “laying foundations” at Asrenal.

Right now we have the best defensive record in the EPL (our seven goals conceded is the best in the division) and if that comes at the cost of us not carrying enough of a goal threat, I’ll take that for now.

Under Emery and the later Wenger years we had the defensive resilience of a blancmange and it cost us time and time and time again.

So it is absolutely right that El Patron has made securing our defence his first priority. Get that right and we can build on the other things.

In fact, it reminds me of the early days of George Graham at Arsenal. The Scot arrived from Millwall at a time when Arsenal had been drifting for years and his first job was to make us hard to beat. He put his faith in a very young centre half – Tony Adams – and added players who would become defensive legends: Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, David Seaman, Steve Bould and Martin Keown.

Are we seeing the early stages of that with Arteta’s Arsenal? Despite the disappointment of the results against Leicester and Man City, we restricted both those very good teams to hardly any clear chances. We did the same to Man Utd.

This is encouraging. Very encouraging.

These are the sort of foundations from which we can build something very special.

RockyLives

Player Ratings

Leno                7

Very little to do but made one good stop with his legs early on and, late on, improvised brilliantly to deflect a goal-bound ricochet onto the post with his face.

Bellerin           7

Much to like about Hector’ shift. Unspectacular but his tracking runs when United wide players were breaking were top class and saved us on a couple of occasions. And of course it was his run into the Man Utd box that led to our penalty.

Holding           8

A surprise start given his recent injury. Big Rob was solid all game and looked assured when we were playing out from the back.

Gabriel            9 (MoTM)

There were a few contenders for MoTM but Gabriel shades it for me. He looks like the sort of CB we have been needing for years. A very exciting addition to our side.

Tierney            7.5

We almost take these sorts of performances for granted now from our young Scot. Tireless, excellent in defence and contributing well to attack.

Elneny             8

Who would have guessed that mop-top Mo would turn into one of the sensations of our season so far? Always a tidy player, he seems to have added an extra layer of confidence. His short passing is as good as ever but he has added surging runs to his game too. Arteta the master of rehabilitation strikes again.

Partey             8.5

Close call for MoTM. He and Gabriel have given us a proper spine for the first time in years. Outstanding performance.

Saka                7.5

Always a threat, always available for the ball. He has become a reliable bona fide first team mainstay.

Willian            6.5

A busy outing. Was brushed off the ball too easily for my liking several times in the first half, but his work when we were not in possession was good and he was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet with a shot that hit the top of the crossbar.

Lacazette        6.5

Laca gets some unfair stick at times. He has a hard job to do trying to be an outlet in the CF position, usually receiving the ball with two or three players on him. But he was more effective yesterday than against Leicester and stopped Fred from fulfilling his usual role as a deep lying playmaker.

Aubameyang  7

Unlucky not to get on the end of a Bellerin cross in the first half. Did not have many opportunities but took his penalty with aplomb.

Subs

Nketiah           6.5

Not many opportunities for Fast Eddie as we sat back to protect our lead.

Maitland-Niles   N/A

Not long enough to assess.

Mustafi   N/A

Not long enough to assess.