Nigel Winterburn: Arteta deserves this season to get it right at Arsenal

Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn talks about the Gunners' start to the season, manager Mikel Arteta's future and defensive issues at the Emirates.

Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn is desperate to see his old club rediscover the fire that saw them brush north London rivals Tottenham aside a few weeks ago.

Winterburn believes manager Mikel Arteta needs time to develop his young players but was disappointed to see his old team follow their 3-1 derby victory with draws against Brighton and Crystal Palace.

The Gunners go into Friday's home clash against Aston Villa 12th in the Premier League table and he told Freesupertips.com that Arteta needs to inspire his team to be more consistent.

He said: "Although you're never going to replicate the Tottenham performance in every single game, I'd like to think that we can be a lot closer to that performance compared to the last two when we play Villa.

"When you look at negatives, you've got to also got to look at the positives and they kept trying to find a way back into the game against Palace.

Arsenal took an early lead against Palace through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but fell behind before Keiran Tierney hit the bar and Alexandre Lacazette finally rescued a point deep in injury time.

Winterburn said: "It looked like it wasn't going to happen after Tierney hit the crossbar, but with Lacazette coming on it made a difference.

"I like that part of the team showing some fight, but the level of performances is still too wide apart."

Winterburn, who made 440 appearances for the Gunners between 1987 and 2000, thinks the fact the club are not involved in European competition this year should help Arteta mould his team and help develop young talent such as Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.

He said: "The team needs time to develop.

"I think Arsenal was a big job for him and we've fallen a lot lower than people thought we would.

"This is a big season for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, there's no European football, so there's plenty of time out on the training pitch.

"This season Arsenal have a good chance to get a good team structure in place and a style of play.

"I believe he will be given until the end of the season, I don't understand why you would invest that amount of money with a manager just to sack him.

"It's a bit of a waiting game and then we can make our judgements at the end of the season, but those judgements will come after every game anyway."

A lot of pressure is on Ben White after he made the £50million move to the Emirates from Brighton, but Winterburn is confident the former Seagull will soon find his feet.

He said: "We're always very quick to criticise and I've always said that players, regardless of price tags, need to come in and hit the ground running.

"Sometimes it doesn't work like that, and they need time to settle in, but he's come with a big price tag and a reputation to help that back four develop into a solid backline.

"Like every player, you are judged on every single game, and I've said it all along that you need to be a seven out of ten every week as a defender.

"You want to keep those performances consistent, eliminate any errors and keep your job simple.

"Most players in the Premier League now are very comfortable on the ball, but the individual belief, positioning and ability to defend is what's important.

"Ben White is still developing and getting to understand how Arteta wants to play, but because he's the guy who cost a lot of money, he'll get stick when Arsenal concede goals."

Winterburn was an integral part of the famous Gunners backline alongside Lee Dixon, Tony Adams and Steve Bould that was successful under both George Graham and Arsene Wenger, so he is well-placed to judge the players Arteta has at his disposal.

He said: "With Arsenal that backline will always be under scrutiny because people perceive it hasn't been looked at enough over the past few seasons.

"People will make comments even if we don't concede and claim it looks shaky at times, but you have to give them credit for keeping clean sheets.

"It's nice that those players are in place, and they'll play a lot of games together, you want to see that improvement going forward.

"You want that little bit of protection from the players in front but as long as you're organised as a back four you can help stem the tide.

"They still need to improve a lot as a back four, it's been nice to see those clean sheets recently and there's a lot of support back there.

"With Aaron Ramsdale in goal, he's pretty pumped so when one of his defenders puts in a block you can see he's all over them, encouraging and that's the attitude we like to see."

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