Why Mathieu Flamini Is Under Most Pressure for Arsenal Following Draw with Spurs

For the first 28 minutes of Arsenal's intense match against Tottenham Hotspur, Mikel Arteta was an integral part of the midfield battle.

As he always does, the Gunners' captain guided the rest of the team and subtly stopped Spurs when they attempted to build a sustained attack. He also effectively clamped down on the counterattacks through which Tottenham score so many of their goals.

In short, Arteta was having a quite solid game and reaffirming Arsene Wenger's tremendous faith in him. It is certainly no coincidence that he starts in almost every game for which he is fit.

But in the 28th minute, Arteta received the ball and, under no pressure at all, kicked the ball out of play. It turned out he had strained his calf and needed to be removed from the game.

His obvious replacement was Mathieu Flamini, just back from a dead leg that threatened to keep him out of the game. Arsenal were thereafter exposed and considerably less dynamic in midfield.

Flamini possesses virtually none of the same footballing traits that Arteta does. The latter is more of a traditional holding midfielder, relying on excellent vision and a superb ability to read the game to make standing tackles and distribute the ball.

The former, meanwhile, relies on sheer force to guard the back four and possesses very little ability with the ball at his feet. He is better than many center backs, perhaps, but is just barely a good enough circulator of the ball to play in midfield.

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Arsenal do gain a certain grit when Flamini enters the fray, and he is one of only a few Gunners who can genuinely intimidate the opposition.

Yet that is merely an intangible benefit. Flamini simply does not cohere with Arsenal's style of play as well as Arteta does—largely because the Spaniard is the fulcrum of the team.

The Gunners very often build their sustained attacks from the back, relying on Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny to get the ball past pressing forwards and into midfielders in favorable positions.

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Very often that midfielder is Arteta, dropping back into just the right spot to relieve pressure on his defenders and give them an outlet. He, in turn, is harried, but he is adroit enough to slide the ball out of danger and keep things moving.

We see this same tactic repeated throughout each game Arsenal play. Wenger likes to commit men forward due to his emphasis on goalscoring and belief in attack as the best form of defense, but this tactic requires an expert and calm distributor.

Flamini, unlike Arteta, cannot seem to do this job by himself. He allows Arteta to perform his usual role with a bit more freedom when they play together, but the opportunity cost of accommodating both is losing an attacking midfielder.

And besides, if Arteta is out for any extended period of time—he has already been injured twice this season—Flamini will have to be Arsenal's sole defensive midfielder.

Fans wanted Wenger to address this clear hole in the transfer market, of course, but that point is worthless now that the season is underway.

Hopefully, Flamini's major mistake in the Spurs match is not an indication of his future performance. He did not detect Christian Eriksen charging in to strip him of the ball 20 yards away from his own goal and was easily stripped.

A couple touches later, Nacer Chadli had put Tottenham 1-0 ahead against the run of play.

No one knows whether Arteta would have made such a blunder, of course, but he is much less liable to do so than his technically unskilled backup.

If Arteta is out for any extended period of time, Flamini will be under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform his captain's critical role.

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