Arsenal may not have had a proper captain start a league match since 2014, but Per Mertesacker has had his portrait placed on the captain’s wall despite being sidelined until the last six months of his contract.

His stand-in, Laurent Koscielny, gave the definition of a captain’s performance against Southampton on Saturday, and while I’m not suggesting that Per wouldn’t have given the same sort of display had he been on the pitch, it was nice to have a captain on the pitch which is the whole point of a captain, really.

https://twitter.com/DarrenArsenal1/status/774593620649316353

Anyway, Per’s face has gone up alongside Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen. Above him sits Cliff Holton, himself a one season captain, like Jimmy Logie beside him.

Guess it’s not really a new thing at the club