If Arsenal are to finish the season strongly and keep the pressure on Leicester and Tottenham while keeping the teams below us at bay and ensuring a place in the Champions League next season, we will need the creative and attacking players in the side to keep up the sort of performances that have seen Arsenal score six goals in the last two Premier League games.
And while a lot of the blame for the slump was placed firmly at the feet of the misfiring strikers, there have been defensive lapses along the way which meant we not only failed to beat the likes of Swansea and Watford but lost the matches that we should have won.
Of course a successful team needs to do both sides of the game well and that also sums up the role of the modern full back, so maybe the Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin is the ideal man to talk about the relative values of attacking and defending. Even though the young Spaniard scored his third goal for the Arsenal first team on Saturday, he told Arsenal Player that it was the defensive aggression the Gunners showed that was the key to the comfortable win.
Bellerin said, “Defending-wise we were on the front foot and we didn’t even let them have many chances.
“The defenders were always first to the ball and that was key. With the ball there was a lot of creativity and patience, which is really important and there was some very good football flowing.
“We have shown that we are a team who, when we have momentum, can be really strong and very dangerous, so it is important for us to build those wins in a row as that is going to lift us up.
“There was a cross from the right and I was close to Alexis. When I saw the ball coming back to me in the box I just thought I could get there.
“Being right footed, it is a bit weird I scored it with my left but I am very happy.”
With Elneny and Coquelin in the middle Arsenal are definitely harder to break down but we may lose a bit going forward at the same time. Will this become a problem or is it better to stay strong and hope the likes of Ozil and Alexis can do the job at the other end?