Who Is The Best Arsenal Defensive Midfielder?
The sixth in a series of articles on all of the best modern Arsenal players in every position.

Well, now we’ve got the defence sorted out let’s have a look at the midfield. The first midfield position we’re looking at is defensive central midfield, or number 4 as we used to call it.

These are the guys that protect the defence and earn the right for the ‘flair players’ to actually play. The tacklers.

Peter Storey

1965-1977

501 appearances (17 goals)

Championship medal, FA Cup Winners Medal, Fairs Cup Winners Medal, 19 England Caps.

Well if we’re talking about the tacklers then where better to start than one of the genuine hard men of the ‘60s and ‘70s who could persuade the opponent’s star player to have an ‘off day’ with one ice cold stare.

Peter’s style could probably best be described as uncompromising and unflinching. Never one to pull out of a tackle or show pain, this distracted people from the undoubted skill he possessed which was to bring him 19 caps in England’s midfield.

Despite his on pitch personality ‘Snouty’ was a quiet, shy person off the pitch. After leaving Arsenal (for a year at Fulham) he drifted out of football completely. Unfortunately brushes (and worse) with the law followed, but these appear behind him.

Brian Talbot

1979-1985

326 appearances (49 goals)

FA Cup Winners Medal, 6 England Caps.

A £450,000 signing from Ipswich in January 1979, within a few months ‘Noddy’ had become the first player in modern times to win consecutive FA Cup Winners medals with different clubs.

Perpetual motion would be understating the amount of running he did for Arsenal, particularly in the vainglorious 1979/80 season when he played every game and didn’t stop running once.

He sacrificed the more artistic side of his game for the good of the team so it was quite a shock to some when twice in a week he floated beautiful free kicks into the Highbury net.

Kevin Richardson

1987-1990

121 appearances (8 goals)

Championship Winners Medal, 1 England Cap.

Once described as ‘the most consistently high-class ordinary player in the First Division’ he arrived at Highbury with few fanfares but provided the experience to drive us to the title.

Already a title winner at Everton he had the discipline to do exactly the job required of him in tackling and closing but as he settled he showed there was more to his game than that with some superb passing.

After falling out with George Graham he was shipped off to Real Sociedad but in his three years at Arsenal he fully answered the question many Arsenal fans were asking when he signed, namely ‘Why?’

Ray Parlour

1991-2004

468 appearances (32 goals)

3 Championship Winners Medals, 4 FA Cup Winners Medals, 1 League Cup Winners Medal, 10 England caps.

If you could judge the popularity of a player by how many nick names he’s known to the fans by then this guy wins hands down. From Shirley to Pizza to OohAah his all action style was always going to be popular with the fans.

A graduate of the youth system his days appeared numbered as Wenger established his empire but each season Ray would find that little bit more in his game to continue his part in the Wenger revolution.

Although Vieira’s pre eminence meant Ray played much of his football for Arsenal in a wider role he could always be relied on to get stuck in when the team needed it and even banged in the odd thunderous goal as well.

Patrick Vieira

1996-2005

407 appearances (34 goals)

3 Championship Winners Medals, 4 FA Cup Winners Medals, 85 France Caps (4 goals)

‘Paddy’ would have been a good player in any age but I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it took Wenger’s skill as a manager to get the best out of him. On his day there’s no doubt he was the best around and could single handedly change a game through the sheer power.

Was a revelation from his first substitute appearance where within minutes he had taken control of the midfield, and finally left Highbury as one of our most successful skippers ever.

Ironically, he was tackled by Robert Pires (of all people!) on his return to Highbury with Juventus for the first goal but the reception he received from the fans before the game showed the respect that exists for him still.

Gilberto Silva

2002 – Present

161 appearances (12 goals)

Championship Winners Medal, 2 FA Cup Winners Medals, World Cup Winners Medal, Confederation Cup Winners Medal, 40 Brazil Caps (3 goals).

‘Poly’ joined us from Atletico Mineiro in the summer of 2002, fresh from winning the World Cup with Brazil, and then scored the winning goal in the Community Shield game against Liverpool.

Praised and derided in equal quantities for fans because of his ‘invisible wall’ role he strangely became more popular in his absence and is now accepted by most to be an integral part of the team.

Not a hard tackler like the others mentioned, but in today’s football it’s the unselfish play of the likes of Gilberto that allow the flair players the opportunity to do their job.

Please note – for all players only club honours won with Arsenal are included, although the caps shown are a career total and may include caps won whilst at other clubs. All stats are intended to be correct at the start of the season.

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