What of Arsenal’s engine room?

The transfer window hasn’t been kind to any Arsenal fan in terms of excitement in a long time. The capture of Granit Xhaka is the most I’ve been excited since we got Özil on THAT deadline day. On those Saturday nights I dared not pretend I’m in the mood for going out, I found myself watching alot of Bundesliga games with Marc Mwoka. The term deep-lying playmaker is a term thrown about loosely but if there ever was someone that typifies that style of player, Granit is the man.

There were moments he would rake cross-field passes at Mönchengladbach with blinding accuracy and immediately get his team on the front foot. Two minutes later he’s getting a warning from the referee for a crunching challenge. His passes have a sweet follow-through that is just as sexy as a Klay Thompson jumper from 3. Certain players are just artistic in how they express themselves on a football field, and Xhaka is threatening to dethrone Santi as the most beautiful player to watch, for me, in an Arsenal jersey. He does get stuck in which makes the blend of finesse and aggression so unique to him. I’d write about this guy all day!

After Cazorla got injured, our midfield lacked that threat to thread passes from deep in embarassing fashion. Elneny brought by solidity in the midfield but he too doesn’t have the range of passing of the other two. He’s turning out to be a class act though, when he’s on the field, always willing to take control when the team is under a high press by the opposition. He’s very calm under pressure and in his 12 games for Arsenal has managed a 93% pass accuracy, alongside his 13 tackles and 18 interceptions, per Squawka. He has very good stamina and physicality which makes him an absolute steal at £6m by Wenger last January. His supreme physical shape and form in pre season gives Wenger a massive selection headache ahead of the Liverpool opener.

A ‘slight’ injury to Wilshere meant he missed the games against Viking FC and City, but he’s back in training. We all know what he’s capable of… but… it’s Jack. It’s Jack. I believe in the future Gunners’ captain, I just don’t trust his body yet.

Ramsey went to France, with a pristine blonde haircut might I add, and managed to make the Team of the Tournament. He had a free role and was revelling in ways Arsenal fans watched in complete admiration and, dare I say, envy. He was full of confidence and it’s an absolute shame he was suspended for the semi final because I truly think they’d have been in the final of Euro 2016. Him rediscovering the form of a few years ago seems to be mutually exclusive to him playing through the middle.

As for Santi, he is fit and raring to go. The two-footed maestro was dearly missed most of last season and just watching him in action against Viking FC gave me goosebumps. His partnership with Coquelin proved to be very effective for a while with the grit of the Frenchman accompanying the little Spaniard’s creativity and passing ability, a partnership halted thanks to injury.

So what exactly is the best combination for the Gunners?

Ideally, a combination similar to Santi-Le Coq gave us stability. One issue with it was that the were not the strongest duo and that gave us issues with physical teams. When you needed a box-to-box player and a creative one, Santi and Ramsey wasn’t the most ideal because defensively there was still a big issue.

The signing of Elneny and then Xhaka addresses alot of those issues. First and foremost, Xhaka is bigger than any of the midfielders we currently have. Aerially he’s an improvement. He can do the job Santi did and also give you that steel needed in the middle of the park. He’s disciplined and knows his strength is not in trying to get in the opposition box.

He makes it possible for Wenger to let Ramsey play through the middle because now the Welshman can express himself in his preferred central role without the added responsibility of having to track back, or being thrown out onto the wing. A Xhaka-Ramsey partnership would be very enticing and would be great against teams that want to sit back against us. Typically, such teams will have a narrow back four, that’s when you need crisp passes to the wings and late runs into the box to try and attack crosses. Elneny is capable of playing the Xhaka role, as Granit can’t play there the whole season.

Another option is to have the two former Basel men play together. The only issue with this is that neither Xhaka or Elneny really gets into the opposition area, making us a bit predictable going forward. But for the more difficult games, I certainly see us playing the two together. The odd man out remains Coquelin, because he doesn’t possess as versatile a skillset as the others, even though in pre-season he’s shown flashes of his capability to join in the attack and play abit. He could still prove to be a great back up to have, even though the team’s inability to splash cash on a midfielder in years past blinded us into overrating him.