Arsenal centre-half David Luiz admits manager Mikel Arteta has sought to tighten things up defensively this season.

The Gunners have been criticised for some erratic defending in the past few seasons, but they went into the weekend with the second best defensive record in the top flight this season, behind top of the table Aston Villa.

That is some feat in a season when it has rained goals – and they have already played tough away fixtures at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Luiz said how the improvement is down to manager Arteta's tactics. He explained: "We have a great mentality with Mikel in this way. When we have the ball, we try to enjoy ourselves as much as possible and when we don't have the ball we try to regain it.

"The first defenders are the strikers — They have to do their job, pressing in the right way, and this makes things much easier for us.

"It's not just about defending the last line with the keepers it's about the whole team working together with fight and commitment.

"We are working hard, we understand what Mikel wants from us, and we know how we want to play and we have the right mentality and attitude. We want to achieve."