Yes but the people getting out of the way part would only work if he was playing against us.

21 free kicks seems low for a total number? That's less than one per game.

That's only if he was Everton's only free kick taker though. Didn't Baines take some as well, for example?

Fair point, I'm sure you are correct. We aren't exactly the best at attacking the ball at set plays anyway so the delivery is redundant much of the time.

Van Persie is good at lashing it in with pace and hoping for the best and occasionally it works, but a lot of the time it is cleared at the near post as he has been hitting corners and free kicks very flat for some time now. I cant remember the last time he got some real whip on a set piece.

Arteta on the other hand has always seemed excellent at picking out Everton's main attacking threats at set pieces rather then simply putting it into an area with as much pace as possible like Van Persie, but by getting some real shape on his crosses and knowing where his team mates will attack.

I have no doubt we will have been practicing Mertesacker/Djourou/Chamakh/Koscileny/Vermaelen attacking Arteta's crosses the last few training sessions, with Van Persie hanging around the edge of the box I'd imagine, as Arteta has the ability to pick out such a ball aswell.

If we cant cause some problems at set pieces today against a relatively small Swansea team then we really need to buck up our short corner routine as crossing will just be a waste considering the sheer amount of corners we win.

We'd been crying out for someone like Arteta for a long time. Even when Cesc was here, we could definitely have used someone like him to play alongside, as well as give some rest to the younger Spaniard. He's definitely a cool head in our midfield. Good passes and great range as well. He isn't afraid to ride a few tackles and push forward too. Great, great signing. One wonders if we couldn't have afforded him say 3 years ago.

Last night was the first time I focused on watching Arteta and I was really impressed.

It seems that in Wilshere's absence, Wenger has asked the Spaniard to take that role of dropping deep and playing the 'transition' role that Wilshere has done so brilliantly over the past year.

The first half he still kept roaming too far forward, mainly because Rosicky wasn't pressing high enough enabling Olympiacos too much time on the ball. However, in the second half Rosicky played a much higher role pressing the defence which in turn allowed Arteta to hold deeper, pick up the ball and dictate the play.

He's an intelligent player and like every Spaniard he has great composure and technique with the ball. I think now we will see Ramsey play much higher up the pitch off Van Persie like he did yesterday when he came on. He's much better there in my opinion using his close control and quick thinking to open up the defence whereas Arteta can drop deeper almost like Alonso does for Madrid.

He'll only get better as he settles in and £10mil is starting to look like an absolute bargain.

Just want to repeat how impressed I've been with Arteta this season.

He has a lot more to his game than I expected and his determination and work rate is superb. Against Man City he made more successful passes than any other player (67, 21 more than Ramsey and Silva who both had 46) and was only 2nd to Gareth Barry in his interceptions (Barry had 8, Arteta 6). He also made 2 out of 2 successful tackles.

He also made the second most passes against Everton (most passes was strangely Koscielny) and he attempted 97 passes in our 4-0 win over Wigan, that is bordering on Xavi-esque stats.

The trouble is he is playing the same role that Wilshere was playing last season which begs the question, when Wilshere returns do you drop Arteta which would surely be very harsh, or do you drop Ramsey and play either the Spaniard or Wilshere in the more advanced role?

*Stats courtesy of Guardian Chalkboards http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards

Drop Ramsey and play Wilshere more advanced. Arteta has made us much more defensively solid and he has been one of our best performers this season.

It is a difficult call, particularly as I don't think Wilshire is creative enough to be the attacking midfielder. Maybe push Arteta forward and see if he can find the creativity he used to have with Everton?

I like the balance we have in midfield with Song and Arteta complementing each other, I wouldn't adjust their roles at all. I like Ramsey a lot, but we could perhaps do with a more effective playmaker - I do think he can grow into this player, but at present we can't risk it. Maybe an advanced Wilshere is the answer I dunno.

Perhaps we could play Wilshere wide and not tinker with the formation at all.

I don't think Wilshere wide makes sense, he's going to be great in the center and he's still young - why put him somewhere different after a serious injury in a team that isn't exactly confident and stable? He's already had to adjust to various forms of central midfield, we should now think about how best he can work in the midfield 3.

I've long been dissatisfied with Song-Arteta-Ramsey, it's not just Ramsey in and of himself but in this year at least we're not going to see any real creativity with a combination of those 3. (It's striking that the only times this season where we've really seen great dribbling or penetrating play, it's been Song doing one of his random adventures.) That's putting it a bit harsher than I really feel, and I especially like Arteta, but we either need Wilshere to come in here and shake things up or get another playmaker.

He was only narrowly behind Fabregas last season in terms of chances created (Wilshere that is). So perhaps he could flourish in a more creative role. However I like him deep and pulling strings alongside Song.

Our midfield at the moment has absolutely no balance.