The five things Unai Emery needs to do improve Arsenal in September

#2 Find better protection for Hector Bellerin

Bellerin vs West Ham

Bellerin has had a mixed start to the campaign. He’s been one of the weakest defenders in the team and responsible for several errors, yet he’s also been one of Arsenal’s most effective attackers. He already has two assists to his name.

The right back has been key to Emery’s attacking approach so far. Arsenal have been good at creating space on the right flank for Bellerin to gallop into and produce a ball into the box.

However, this has been a doubled-edged sword. Bellerin's attacking duties leave Arsenal vulnerable in the right back zone and both Chelsea and West Ham have already exploited that.

The solution may be to rein Bellerin in, but this would take away one of their more potent attacking options. Calls for Stephan Lichtsteiner to play instead are understandable, but the Swiss must also provide left back cover after the injuries to Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

It has to be up to the rest of the team to cover the space, starting with the midfield. It was interesting that Guendouzi was subbed at half-time against West Ham instead of Xhaka. This suggests that the Frenchman hadn’t done a good enough job protecting the defence. His replacement, Lucas Torreira, did a much better job securing that part of the pitch.

There will always be risk involved with flying full backs, but the inclusion of Torreira from now on seems a no-brainer.