5 Reasons Arsenal Should Give Mathieu Flamini New Contract

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5. Flamini has been solid cover

This is going to be hard for me to argue because it goes against everything I believed not long ago. But throughout watching Arsenal over the past couple weeks, I have not caught myself moaning and groaning at Mathieu Flamini like I expected. When Le Coq got hurt, I feared the worst. I was terrified that Arsenal was going to falter. Against West Brom and Norwich they did but Flamini was not by any means the culprit in those matches. Surely he contributed but Arsenal as a team collapsed. I do believe that Coquelin could have made all the difference, but that is a debate for another day.

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I always considered defense the art of not messing up. It’s not a flashy role. It’s not going to win the spotlight. All you have to do is take care of business and not expose the team. By that regard, Flamini has done admirably. He is averaging over two tackles and two interceptions a game as well as maintaining a near-90% pass completion.

But mainly, he has not muffed up. If I don’t notice a defender as much, that means he probably did a good job. Flamini has done a good job. Plus, has anyone else noticed how well he times his aerial duels?

Are there better options out there? By all means. But there are many things that Flamini brings to this team that others cannot. One of them will be covered on the next slide.

Next: 4. He's already here