On Saturday Arsenal took on Wolverhampton Wanderers in a must win clash at the Emirates. At the end of the 90 minutes, Arsenal had ripped apart Wolverhampton despite a late surge from the relegation threatened team.
Arsenal could have very well scored more than the 2 goals they eventually did had it not been for the profligacy of Arsenal’s attacking players and for the scintillating performance of Wayne Hennessey, the Wolves shot stopper.
But what would have pleased Arsene Wenger the most would have been the defensive performance of his team.
Arsenal put up another solid defensive performance following the return of Johan Djourou.
All the other teams in the top four have lost a game to Wolves. Arsenal won both their matches against Wolves and at the same time did not concede a single goal.
Every year, Arsenal are criticized for having a weak defense but this season Arsenal have shown great solidity at the back and have looked assured at the back.
So far this season Arsenal have had the fourth best defense in terms of goals conceded. Arsenal have conceded 27 goals this season which is behind only Manchester United (26), Manchester City (24) and Chelsea (22).
In 2011 Arsenal have conceded just 5 goals, 4 of which came in that disastrous second half performances at St James Park. But in the other 6 games Arsenal have just conceded 1 goal which happened to be ridiculously offside.
All this in the absence of their first choice defender Thomas Vermaelen who hasn’t played a single minute since August.
In the absence of Vermaelen, Johan Djourou has risen to the spotlight and is arguably Arsenal’s best defender right now.
With Djourou in the team Arsenal have just conceded 4 goals which just goes to show the efficiency of the entire team in the presence of Djourou.
Arsenal have kept 9 clean sheets this season, 7 of which have come in the presence of Djourou. Djourou has brought out the best in both Koscielny and Squillaci and with him in defense Arsenal seem to have a rock solid defense.
Djourou adds an element of composure and his assured performances has brought out the best in the defense and has allowed their goalkeepers to thrive.
Currently Arsenal have 3 fully fit centre backs in Squillaci, Koscielny and Djourou.
Djourou is playing his first season since the knee injury that kept him out of the entire last season and both Squillaci and Koscielny are playing their first season in the Premier League.
This just goes onto show the superb performance of the defense.
Statistically Arsenal have been superb at the back this season with Djourou and are conceding very few goals and despite having their first choice centre back injured Arsenal have finally developed the league’s best defense.
Teams like Chelsea, Manchester United have conceded goals even with their best defenders featuring. Yet Arsenal with Djourou in the team rarely look like conceding and look superb at the back.
But let us not the forget the contribution of the other two defenders.
Koscielny has gone from strength to strength in recent weeks and in the presence of Djourou is justifying Wenger’s decision to play him and is showing that he can be one of the League’s top defenders.
Even Squillaci who has been poor this season has looked not too bad this season with Djourou as his partner.
But right now it is Koscielny and Djourou that is forming the best defensive partnership in the country.
Both players are extremely talented and have conceded just 2 goals when playing with each other, one of which was a clearly offside goal.
A good defense is not just one that is statistically good, but in order to be considered the best, the defense has to look solid and resist pressue without crumbling.
This is exactly the case when Djourou plays. Arsenal are composed and assured at the back and looks like they are capable of repelling any attack.
Which has been the case this season. Arsenal kept clean sheets in both their matches against Manchester City and conceded just one goal against Chelsea.
Arsenal’s defense has to keep up the good work when they face Barcelona in the Champions League on Saturday. If they manage to put in a similar performance then even the Catalan giants cannot pry open their defense.
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