Arsenal: Will Wenger settle on a CDM pair?

Through 12 meaningful games this season, Arsenal has already employed four different combinations in the defensive midfield. With injuries, a suspension and Arsene Wenger being Arsene Wenger, Arsenal has yet to settle on a duo in front of its back four. Will the right combination emerge? Better yet, with the club sitting pretty in both the league table and Champions League Group A, does it matter right now?

In its decade-long run of kinda-sorta title challenges, the right combinations have eluded Arsene Wenger. Last season, it was in the center of the back four as Arsenal couldn’t find the right defensive partner for Laurent Koscielny. Wenger solved that with the buy of Shkodran Mustafi in late-August.

Meanwhile, the longtime manager has found an attack that works despite never truly buying an upgrade at center forward this summer. Though Wenger brought in Lucas Perez to seemingly compete with the incumbent Olivier Giroud, Arsenal has found success up top via the Alexis Sanchez experiment. Playing as an out-and-out striker, the Chilean has begun the season in top form while playing alongside the young Alex Iwobi, the virtuoso Mesut Ozil and the reinvigorated Theo Walcott.

But because it’s Arsenal and the team is playing well, we have to pick apart something. In a dozen meaningful matches this year (sorry, EFL Cup), Arsenal have used four different pairs in the holding midfield.

The club has won eight of those 12 games and hasn’t lost since its Match Day 1 thriller against Liverpool, so all the mixed combinations of Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny have been effective to some extent.

But what’s worked best so far and what’s the likely duo that gets inked on the team sheet?