Arsenal star Riccardo Calafiori names the one thing he 'needs to do' for Mikel Arteta

Riccardo Calafiori has become an important player for Mikel Arteta, with Arsenal enjoying an impressive start to the Premier League season

Riccardo Calafiori revealed that his unorthodox style of play at Arsenal is something he “needs to do” after another solid performance in the 1-0 win over Fulham.

The Italian saw a goal ruled out for offside that would have firmly added itself into the contenders for goal of the month had the offside flag not been rightfully raised. Yet Calafiori was happy to put his cancelled strike to one side in favour of the three points.

“I didn't see the replay yet, but yeah, I think it was a pretty good one” he said. “But anyway, we won 1-0. So I’m happy.”

Calafiori was not available for the 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage between the sides last season, with this being the third straight game the Gunners had managed to turn a winless result from last season into victory.

Wins over Newcastle United and West Ham United, along with the collection of maximum points in west London on Saturday afternoon, have given Arsenal an eight-point swing from the same fixtures during the previous campaign.

“Yeah, I think the last couple of times we struggled as a team to play here and to win here,” Calafiori admitted. “We managed to get the three points, as I said before, so it's a really good step up for me as a team. So we just have to keep going and we'll do on the pitch for what we can do.”

What Calafiori is doing on the pitch, however, is unlike anything that most have seen from a left-back. Like a footballer’s version of whack-a-mole, the 24-year-old is just so unpredictable in his positioning, popping up in almost entirely random positions on the field.

It is not exclusive to the left flank either and can be found drifting centrally and even, at times, into the right half spaces. He, however, feels this is not necessarily something that he enjoys doing, but instead comes from an instruction or what instead his teammates are needing from him.

“At the end, it's what the team requires or what the coach asks me to do,” he said. “It's not something that I like to do; it's something that I need to do.”

Mikel Arteta gave more insight on the full-back’s “chaos factor” that has truly brought a new dimension to the Arsenal side as a whole and not exclusively the left-back role.

“Yeah, a lot of dynamism, sometimes a bit chaotic, but I think his dynamism and the spaces and the situations that he can create are very difficult to control, especially against a team that is very well-organised, and you have to disrupt their organisation in order to create chances,” he said after the win over West Ham before the break.

To win the Premier League title this season Arsenal had to bring something different to be able to overturn the results of previous failed attempts to overhaul Liverpool and Manchester City.

Calafiori is one part of this collective unit that Arteta has so well drilled and who have such an ability to frustrate every opposition they play and limit them to so few chances.

Perhaps even more impressive is their success in restricting sides like Fulham in such a way while having a presence like Calafiori in the team and that is in itself what makes this squad of players such strong candidates to go all the way and lift that elusive first title since 2004.