Arsene Wenger has hailed the contribution of Steve Bould to the Gunners' solid start to the season.
Arsenal have not conceded a goal in their three Premier League games so far, and Wenger believes the coaching influence of Bould - a member of George Graham's famously miserly Arsenal defence - has played a major role in that.
Although the Gunners were frustrated up front in 0-0 draws against Sunderland at home and Stoke away, they rarely looked likely to concede, and the pattern continued as they registered their first win, 2-0 against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Wenger said that although neither Sunderland nor Stoke had offered much in the way of attacking intent, the signs were good.
He said of Bould: "He is doing a good job. We continue our training regime. He has taken over from Pat Rice [who has retired] for the defensive job, where he is doing very well. Will we finish with the best defence in the league? I hope so."
But he stressed that was where any similarity with the teams of the Graham era - when Tony Adams and Bould commanded the defence and "1-0 to the Arsenal" was a common result - would end. "We want to score goals," he said.
Meanwhile, Lukas Podolski, who scored his first Arsenal goal in the win at Liverpool, said he was enjoying a blossoming understanding with fellow new recruit Santo Cazorla, the scorer of the other goal that day.
"We play [well] together, and you could see it here - he passed for me for the first goal, I passed to him for the second goal," he said.
"But we are only three matches in. We have 35 matches more, so we must keep going."
