Arsenal’s best CM pairing?

Who should Arsenal play in central midfield? Peter Smith takes a look at their options…

Central midfield was long considered an area of weakness for Arsenal but Arsene Wenger now has a number of options in the middle of the park, with Santi Cazorla, Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny all vying for two starting spots. The question is, which pairing is best?  

Coquelin and Elneny replaced the injured Cazorla and suspended Xhaka against Middlesbrough on Saturday, stepping into the two holding positions in Wenger’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.

However, they were unable to inspire the Gunners to victory – and Petr Cech was twice forced into good first-half saves when the visitors found a way through.

So what will Wenger do when he has all four players to choose from? We take a look at how the combinations he’s used so far have done…

Elneny and Coquelin

Saturday was the first time Wenger had started Elneny and Coquelin alongside each other since the opening weekend of the Premier League season, when Arsenal lost a 4-3 thriller at home to Liverpool.

That day, Elneny was taken off 67 minutes in, after failing to stop Liverpool’s high-speed assaults. He had made no tackles and regained possession for his team just three times.

He was replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Middlesbrough on 74 minutes as Wenger sought greater creativity from the centre of the pitch.

Cazorla and Coquelin

Arsenal’s most popular pairing in central midfield has reaped four wins from five games. That includes Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Chelsea, when Coquelin was forced off with an injury midway through the first half with the score at 2-0, and the Gunners’ win over Southampton, when Cazorla converted a 90th-minute penalty.

Wenger trusted Cazorla and Coquelin against Paris St-Germain in the …

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