"He acknowledged he made some mistakes and he has learned from that," said Wenger. "He's an important player and he plays in a position where it is easy to be the captain. Some of the others who could be captain are a bit young. In our team, when you're 21 you look old!

"He got a lot of criticism after what happened at Birmingham but until then everyone said he was a fantastic captain, so I think he deserves another go, to show his commitment, then we will see where we stand at the end of the season.

"He has a good evaluation of his own performances. That's what makes the big players, I believe. If you speak to a big player after a game, he can always assess what he has done right and wrong."