OK, so there have been a great number of impressive contributors to Arsenal's solid start to 2012-13, Santi Cazorla has been a force to be reckoned with, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson offer quality offensively and defensively at full-back, and Gervinho has started to shine.
But have any been better on a game-to-game basis than central defender Per Mertesacker?
He has been a cornerstone of Arsenal's mean defence, which has conceded just two goals in five Premier League games. Against Manchester City yesterday he saw his partnership with Thomas Vermaelen broken up, with the Belgian ruled out with a virus, but led it impressively alongside goalscorer Laurent Koscielny.
Mertesacker was key to Arsenal holding out in the second half to keep the deficit at just one goal, enabling them to nick an equaliser, with the defender making a number of important defensive interceptions. The total, seven, was the joint highest in any Premier League game this season.
He has played the full 90 minutes in every one of the Gunners' league games this campaign, a record he will be keen to keep up for as long as possible.
It is odd to consider that coming into the season that Mertesacker was not considered among Arsenal's first choice defensive pairing, and only got the nod for the Premier League opener against Sunderland when Koscielny was injured on international duty.
The German himself was injured at the end of last season, which saw Arsenal's partnership of Vermaelen and Koscielny put in a number of strong showings.
When Mertesacker was brought into the club in August 2011 Arsenal were in disarray, and he took a while to adjust to the speed of the English game, with him criticised for his lack of pace.
His reading of the game is one of his best strengths, but having to acclimatise meant his anticipation was a little off in his debut season, and he suffered a bad injury just as he was improving.
Now he is certainly up to full speed, and has emerged as a real leader in defence. The big question now is whether he can sustain his position in the Arsenal team. His performances have made it impossible to leave him out, but it is inevitable he will be rested at some stage, and the Vermaelen-Koscielny partnership will get a chance to flourish.
It is a good problem for Arsenal to have, it has been a long while since the club had three top quality central defenders such as Mertesacker, Koscielny and Vermaelen.
Vermaelen is the captain, and will be selected when fit, so it is effectively a straight decision between Koscielny and Mertesacker. We suspect ultimately it will be Koscielny who emerges as Vermaelen's partner, but perhaps not just yet.
Mertesacker has been consistently good, and leaving him out may just expose what an influential figure he has been. He deserves all the credit he gets, and there surely cannot be any Arsenal fans who still doubt him.
Do you agree, has Mertesacker been Arsenal's best player this season?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
Dan Coombs
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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.
As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.
He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.
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