Arsenal: Nacho Monreal their Cesar Azpilicueta

Nacho Monreal, in a new position, is establishing himself as one of Arsenal’s most reliable and important players. He is the Cesar Azpilcueta figure for the Gunners.

As form and confidence seeped away from Arsenal during the dying embers of last season, Arsene Wenger needed a change of approach to inspire a change in attitude. He turned, uncharacteristically, to a 3-4-3 system to try and invigorate a distraction for his players to refocus their attentions on.

Related Story: Arsenal Vs Brighton: 5 things we learned

The change in formation, for the most part, has been successful. The Gunners have been more resilient in their defending, benefitting from the increased cohesiveness, connection and organisation that having a third centre-half on the pitch brings, have been a little more combative, pragmatic, and industrious in midfield, and have been able to offer freedom and license to Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, unshackling them from the defensive responsibility that playing as a more natural winger ties them to.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

The difficulties that have arisen from the change in system have centred on the positioning of the two wide centre-halves. By simple deduction of space, the 3-4-3 can be exploited in the wide channels if the two wing-backs are caught too far up the pitch and the centre-halves are hesitant to commit to pressing the ball out wide.

That is why full-backs who have the defensive nous and positional intelligence to play at centre-half are ideally suited to this position. At Chelsea, the perfect example of a player who has mastered the responsibilities and the duties of the position is Cesar Azpilicueta.

The Spaniard is a wonderful defender. He may not be especially quick, he may not be especially strong or sizable. But he is extremely smart. He reads the game with great accuracy, is able to anticipate where the danger will come, and can position himself and act as a result of what he sees and reads.

And now Arsenal have their own Spanish full-back-turned-centre-half. Nacho Monreal is another Spanish defender who does not rely on physical or athletic gifts to achieve his success. He, like Azpilicueta, reads the game beautifully, and he displayed all of his positional and game intelligence during Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

He completed a ridiculous 97.1% of his passes, showing his willingness to come forward with the ball in a detracted, deep, wide position, made two clearances, and was even able to score the breakthrough goal, lashing home after Brighton failed to clear Granit Xhaka’s freekick.

Next: Arsenal Vs Brighton: Player ratings

Monreal’s impressive performance against Brighton is the next in a series of blossoming displays. He is really growing into his new role, very much as Azpilicueta did, and is quickly becoming one of the first names on the team sheet.