There's no dampening Arsenal's Flame

There's only one 'Eternal Flame'! And I don't mean The Bangles' tune. Of course, I'm talking about Mathieu Flamini.

I feel like writing about 'Flames' after I read some of the stick he's getting online. I do respect Gary Neville's opinion, but to say Flames neither screens the back four nor presses the ball is more than a tad harsh.

The truth is Flames is overworked. He's expected to cover every position in defence and he gets next to no support from his fellow midfielders. Against QPR Tomas Rosicky performed reasonably well from an attacking point of view; however, token defensive jog backs to the edge of the box are laughable. Except if I were Flames I'd feel like crying!

One player who has upped his game defensively lately is Santi Cazorla. Quite impressed with the Spaniard of late. More of the same from the rest of the midfield please to give Arsenal fans a Happy New Year!

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