Defending at the biggest clubs in Europe is different to how it used to be.
Tactical trends that have emerged over the course of the past decade have resulted in football becoming more team-orientated when it comes to attacking and defending as a unit.
The likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino have demonstrated the changes in England in recent times, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all exhibiting a governing and proactive brand of football.
In order to control proceedings, possession has to be kept and when it's lost it must be regained fairly quickly, with high pressing usually deemed to be the answer.
For closing down in advanced areas of the field to work, though, teams must be compact, meaning that defensive lines have to push up and remain near the halfway line rather than retreating whenever the ball is lost as was the case in the early years of the Premier League.
However, as a consequence of those new defensive methods and the demands placed on the shoulders of central defenders in particular, players often make embarrassing errors in dangerous areas.
In order to cope with the burden of defending far from goal, coping in isolation and building moves from the back, it's becoming increasingly vital for centre-backs at top clubs to be complete.
Arsenal have suffered from that problem, with the defenders contracted to the club generally not being well-rounded enough to cope with their new responsibilities.
From Sebastien Squillaci to Shkodran Mustafi, to David Luiz; the Gunners have persisted with central defenders who - despite having some strengths - have had very clear weaknesses.
Hope lies ahead, though, with William Saliba and - possibly - Gabriel Magalhaes arriving from Ligue 1 this summer to provide the foundations for Mikel Arteta's rebuild.
Saliba is just 19 years-old, while Gabriel is aged 22. They have plenty of time to develop and evolve but crucially, they don't appear to fit the error-prone mould.
Both Saliba and Gabriel look capable when it comes to handling all phases of the game. The former is 6-foot-4 while the latter is 6-foot-3, yet both are quite mobile and composed with possession.
It's very early days - with the Brazilian yet to even be confirmed as a new signing for Arsenal - but as part of a two-man pairing, the duo could provide much of what the Gunners have lacked in defensive areas since their relative decline.
Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were the last dependable pairing for the club and the 2014/15 season was arguably the last time we saw them play both regularly and effectively together before Gabriel's arrival changed the outlook somewhat. And following the purchase of Gabriel, Arsenal may be closer than ever to realising another central defensive duo as solid as their predecessors.
They seem to have fewer glaring weaknesses than those who have come before, and they have the skills to cope with the contemporary duties of a centre-back that many others appear so uncomfortable with.
Ultimately, if Arteta manages to secure the signature of Gabriel his defence could be transformed next season, with the dramatic high-profile mishaps potentially eradicated for years to come.
