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Arsenal have kept three clean sheets in their last five matches and David Luiz has been performing well in the centre of defence.
Arsenal have kept three clean sheets in their last five matches and David Luiz has been performing well in the centre of defence. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images via Reuters
Arsenal have kept three clean sheets in their last five matches and David Luiz has been performing well in the centre of defence. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images via Reuters

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta pleased with commitment of ‘terrific’ David Luiz

This article is more than 4 years old

Brazilian centre-back much improved since Arteta arrived
‘His attitude in training … it’s superb,’ says head coach

David Luiz is showing his worth as a leader, according to Mikel Arteta, who believes the player’s vast experience should be a powerful force in Arsenal’s dressing room.

The centre-back has performed well in the three weeks since Arteta took over as head coach, contributing to some broadly improved defensive showings. He had, along with the rest of Arsenal’s backline, shouldered considerable criticism in a disastrous first few months of the campaign, but Arteta has urged him to wield his influence more forcefully and believes the penny has dropped.

“That’s what I wanted to demand of him,” Arteta said. “He’s a player that has won more trophies than anybody else in that dressing room. We have to use that in a very powerful way. I wanted him to step up, I wanted him to put all his qualities – his personality and his experience – towards the team and he made a big step forward. I am very, very pleased with him.”

Consistency has long been perceived as an issue in David Luiz’s career even though, at 32, he arrived at Arsenal last summer with a raft of major honours from spells with Chelsea, Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain. Those early appearances under Unai Emery did little to dispel such notions but Arsenal have kept three clean sheets in their past five matches and Arteta believes the Brazilian can continue turning out commanding performances every week.

“In the games he has played under me so far he has been terrific,” he said. “His attitude in training, the way he communicates with his teammates, his desire to still learn, it’s superb. I am delighted with him.”

Arteta has taken an intensive, hands-on approach to tightening up a defence that had been calamity-prone in Emery’s latter days, tailoring specific training schemes to ensure they can carry out his instructions in and out of possession.

“I have to share my principles and what I expect from them in every situation on the pitch, which might be a little different from what they do with other managers, but positionally they have to understand what I expect from them,” he said.

“For me the most helpful thing for [eradicating errors] is communication. If you are consistently communicating with your teammates around you it makes you stay focused on what is happening all the time. If you don’t talk to each other there are always moments or gaps when your focus can go, and the back four can’t have those moments.”

Another player from whom Arteta wants a big second half of the campaign is Dani Ceballos, who has shown flashes of form during his spell on loan from Real Madrid but has not played since injuring a hamstring in early November. The attacking midfielder returned to the bench for the New Year’s Day win over Manchester United and should be involved in Saturday’s match at Crystal Palace.

“Now he is getting much closer to the fitness levels I expect from him to be competing with his teammates,” he said. “Obviously he had a long-term injury, he had an adaptation to this league. I know him really well from Spain, I watched him many times. He is a player that can fit our style and now he needs to make a step forward and make things difficult for me and my selection. Now he is ready to step in.”

Another creative player, Emile Smith-Rowe, has joined Huddersfield Town on loan for the rest of the season.

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