whats this...?

We have better depth and versatility in our defence this year.

Mertesacker coming in has meant that we never need play Squillaci again, and even though Sagna, arguably the best right-back in the league, and Jenkinson are injured, the performances of Djourou and Koscielny in that position have been very good to cover.

Having a fully-fit Vermaelen again makes a massive difference, and Santos probably had his best Arsenal game so far on Wednesday.

And then of course you have the beast that is Szczesny in goal

I'm loving the articles comments more.

But the article was balanced, it stated the facts that we are improving but it's still early days.

Some of those comments don't seem to get that I doubt they read or understood the article!

The comments are pretty funny.

I just hope some fans are not jumping the gun a little.

Yesterday I mentioned on another thread that we have not really played anyone THAT good in our mini revival and the Chelsea match could have gone either way.

We need to be testest and Man City comes up. If we win that and manage to defend well then we can start to say that yes maybe things are starting to finally piece together.

What all articles, newspaper or otherwise, seem to miss is that 'defence' isn't only the back 4 + a defensive midfielder.

Defence is a team thing. For the last few seasons I've watched teams play for Arsenal who seemed somehow..... detached.

There was a gap between those who seemed to view themselves as 'only' there to attack.

The arrival of Arteta, his experience, knowledge of the game, his undoubted ability and his rapid understanding with Song has shown that teams are not always better with a £40 million player in the middle.

I would propose that this team is more balanced than that of the last season or so, precisely because it plays as a team, rather than as a group of talented individuals. Hopefully that will show as fewer points thrown away needlessly.

I didn't think I'd be saying this a few weeks ago, but I am now certain Nasri's departure was good for the team. Fabregas I'm not so sure about, but I'm beginning to think that might be the case as well.

Still, long way to go.......