John
Excellent article, he is our de facto captain and a vital cog in our midfield. Him, Ramsey and Rosicky should be our starting 3 at the beginning of the season if we sign no others (Santi on the left).

The perez guy on trial looks like a similar player to arteta

Gundogan would probably one of the few adequate replacements going.
There's not many youngsters who can do what Arteta does.

Gustavo wouldn't play his role but would still be a good player to have in that area. Ramsey/Wilshere/Rosicky can easily move to take the ball up the pitch a bit more and start the move.

Spot on. Arteta is vital to the team, him and Ramsey work wonderfully well as that double pivot at the base of the midfield. The problem, as you've noted, is what we do when Arteta is absent. It seems to me that Wenger is looking for a younger player to learn and develop under Mikel, with Ginter being rumoured and Perez currently on trial. I wouldn't be displeased about that either, there's not really a big name player in the Arteta mould that is available. Plus, the two youngsters have had some very promising noises surrounding them. And at 19/20 they're not too young, old enough to fill in for Arteta. If they're good enough, that's all that matters. Not bothered by price/name.

Arteta doesn't like receiving the ball under pressure, he doesn't take responsibility. He's one of the reasons we don't dominate possession like we used to, he only wants the ball against teams who sit deep, not ones that press high.

His first time passing isn't any good either, so that doesn't help.

I like Arteta as an experienced head in the team, however he seems to suffer from our defensive mid curse and picks up loads of silly fouls. He is particularly prone to this in the dying minutes of the game.

Agree Arteta is an important player in our team on and off the pitch. We really miss him when he is injured.

We really need a replacement for him when he is out. Gustavo would be one for me and he is versatile and can play deeper in defensive too.

Top video, John

Really shows the development and improvement of Aaron Ramsey.

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What about Gustavo/Fellaini next to Arteta? Would rip up the PL.

Well, Gustavo and Arteta definitely would, not sure about Fellaini.

If that oaf Fellaini comes Wenger out.

Very underrated player for us.

I thought it was interesting that during the media campaign to lavish praise on the hitherto underrated Michael Carrick, a stats-based article in 'The Sun' inadvertently highlighted the high-level of performance of Arteta, with the Spaniard topping the stats for passing, successful passes, touches, and more:

http://www.theshortfuse.com/2013/6/26/4466148/arteta-passing-sun-michael-carrick

Whilst it's true that stats don't tell the whole story (and usually the players topping such stats charts are harangued for sideways passing - Denilson, for example) I think it's important for a deep-lying midfielder not to be profligate in possession. Losing the ball just in front of the defence would be very dangerous, and Arteta's ability to retain possession and dictate play from deep relieves pressure and allows us to reorganise (centre-backs spread, full-backs push forward) into a more attacking shape.
Further, he's much more than a 5-10 yard sideways passer; not only does he play a number of balls into the final third from deep, but his quick switches to the flanks are crucial for helping us exploit space in the wide areas.

Kamran's criticisms are interesting, and I've got to admit, it's not something I had really picked up on. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch nearly as many games as I would have liked last season due to workloads (/being a lazy student and avoiding work until it piled up) so I'll have to take his word on that one.

Greatteams, thanks for the outsider's perspective
Yeah, he was fantastic in that match alongside Diaby. In many ways, the Frenchman was the perfect foil for Arteta. Arteta, as aforementioned, is a fantastic passer of the ball, and his tackling is very underappreciated also. However, he does lack the height and mobility of a typical midfield destroyer.
When played alongside Diaby, however, the Frenchman reined in his natural attacking instincts a bit, formed a double pivot with Arteta to help protect the space in front of the defence (and compensate for Arteta's lack of pace), and used his height to help win the aerial balls fired in to the final third.

When Diaby got injured, Arteta's partner became either Wilshere or Ramsey. As excellent as they are in their own rights, both have a natural propensity to foray forward with the ball, which leaves Arteta with a lot of grass to cover. In addition, neither are as good in the air as Diaby, which left us vulnerable to high balls in and around the midfield.

I think this is why replacing Arteta's such a hard task; we need someone who is tall, mobile, and someone that can dictate the game from deep - pretty much the complete defensive midfielder.
We reportedly made a big for Bender, but naturally Leverkusen weren't too keen to let a player of his calibre go easily.

In terms of viable replacements, I think converting Ramsey into more of a DM might be good if we don't have the budget to bring in another player (after we've bought a striker). He doesn't have the pace or ball carrying skills of Wilshere or Chamberalin, so out of our central midfielders, he has the least to lose playing in a more disciplined position. In addition, his ability to retain possession, as well as switching play to the flanks, is very impressive, whilst he's, also athletic, a good tackler, and reasonably tall.

As a more expensive option, I'm a real fan of Swansea's Ki-Sung Yeung. The Korean is one of the few players whose passing stats can rival the likes of Carrick and Arteta, and as with the aforementioned pair, he's not just a sideways passer. He's also very, very good in the air, is confident carrying the ball forward, and is comfortable playing more of a box-to-box role if needed.

Ramsey for me is an indefensible player, forget who is playing next to arteta for me it is who is playing next to ramsey. If we are going for another player similar to arteta we should look no further than morgan schneiderlin.

Schneiderlin is not even close to Arteta in ability, and as well as Ramsey has done recently, Arteta has that consistency and experience. I'd bet Ramsey wouldn't keep is form without Arteta or top top signing... no realistic ones come to mind.

Ideally we would sign a Vieira/Schweinsteiger/Yaya but they don't come around often.

Song!!!!

Getting tired of the dismissing of schneiderlin, ive seen him play since southampton were in league 1, he has the potential to become the new busquets.

Flamini

I would go Flamini too actually!