Cygan's weak case for the new defence

Tottenham v Arsenal: Campbell now rock-solid for the champions but doubts persist over reliability of his partner

Never mind Sol Campbell's return to White Hart Lane this afternoon; he has already been there and done that, to excellent effect, in a red T-shirt. The home crowd's abuse for a former hero can hardly be any more virulent than it was 13 months ago, when he coped splendidly in a 1-1 draw. No, the more interesting question is who should be risked alongside him as Arsenal attempt to rediscover the defensive solidity prized throughout the club's history but missing in recent games: will it be the error-prone Pascal Cygan or the sounder but temperamentally suspect Martin Keown, who has contributed six of the deck of red cards during Arsène Wenger's reign, one of them in a typically niggly derby at Tottenham?

The answer will be a significant clue to Wenger's thinking as he seeks to build up a lead in pursuit of a second successive championship before European football resumes in February, with the team reasonably well placed in the Champions' League following Tuesday's goalless draw against Valencia.

That thinking is not always predictable. Why, for instance, was Dennis Bergkamp, so enthusiastic at present that he is talking of a new contract, left out against Manchester United last week in favour of the regularly unsuccessful partnership between Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry? A certain amount of rotation can also be expected over the forthcoming holiday period, especially further forward in the team; but defence, in this new era, post-Tony Adams and Lee Dixon, is a key area.

Amid the dazzling array of statistical achievements by last season's Double-winning team, one little gem easily overlooked was the fact that Arsenal did not concede a goal from open play between a 1-0 Champions' League defeat by Juventus in early March and the demob-happy 4-3 bun-fight against Everton in the final match of the campaign – 15 and a half hours' worth of football. In 10 matches, the only time David Seaman picked a ball out of his net was from a late penalty by Teddy Sheringham on 6 April (which, to the despair of Spurs supporters, was trumped by Lauren's even later one at the other end). Significantly, the central defenders alternated throughout that period were Campbell and the old firm of Keown and Adams.

With Adams announcing his retirement and Stepanovs not up to the job, a new defender was clearly required. At 6ft 4in, the 28-year-old Cygan, with Champions' League experience as captain of Lille behind him – though not a single French international cap to his name – was introduced slowly to English football. Initially, he made a favourable impression, and after a particularly solid display on familiar territory at Auxerre, the word went out: Arsène had found another one.

Doubts were first raised in the return game with the French side, when Auxerre's nippy little counter-attackers made regular and telling incursions to secure a 2-1 victory. Cygan looked no happier in last weekend's defeat at Old Trafford – both goals emanating from his zonal area – and against Valencia his most useful contribution was taking a blow in the stomach from Angulo that led to the Spaniard's expulsion. Even after that incident, Arsenal were stretched to achieve a first clean sheet since the home game with Tottenham (also playing with 10 men) four weeks ago; it was Cygan who allowed John Carew one of Valencia's few scoring opportunities after the lanky Norwegian had easily outpaced him.

All in all, the Frenchman had more cause than most to be grateful that the visitors showed so little attacking ambition and that Pablo Aimar, twice the scourge of Liverpool this season, was such a marginal figure. Those arriving home from Highbury in time for ITV's highlights programme would not have been surprised to hear the studio pundit, Barry Venison, opining: "I'm not convinced about Pascal Cygan. Does that sound harsh?" Hardly, on all the evidence, of which Wenger's contention that "I'm happy we were solid at the back" was one of the less convincing witness statements.

The implication to be drawn was that the manager will not revert to the Campbell-Keown partnership, which did duty for the first 10 games of the season, conceding seven goals, before the advent of Campbell-Cygan (16 conceded in 14 games). It would be interesting to hear the views on the subject of Adams, a mature (in every sense) student these days, also showing promising signs as a pundit whose independence might not always endear him to the club he served for some 20 years as man and boy. In a heavily trailed television interview last week, the most loyal of one-club men not only forecast that Manchester United would beat his former team-mates at Old Trafford, but suggested Arsenal were not defending as a team and wondered if his successor as captain, Patrick Vieira, was sufficiently emphasising the importance of retaining the Premiership title.

Adams would have felt insulted to be part of any Arsenal side beaten because the opposition "wanted it more", which was the phrase Wenger unexpectedly used of United's victory. But the players resent any suggestion that a loss of spirit – what Chelsea's Claudio Ranieri calls spirito inglese – might have occurred since Adams and Dixon walked out of the dressing-room last May.

Thierry Henry, poor against Valencia, was particularly defensive – metaphorically speaking – on that topic after Tuesday's game, insisting: "People make me laugh. We lost against United, not against Burnley or somebody." (A nice little gibe, intentional or not, at Tottenham, beaten at Turf Moor in the Worthington Cup.) "It's insulting to say we lacked any spirit," he added. "Come on, give me a break. United played better than us, OK. We lost to a great team on their pitch."

Such an assessment will not be remotely acceptable to any Arsenal followers at tea-time today.