Arteta's main contribution has been his defensive work rather than his passing. He has generally been very good at covering and intercepting the ball. I don't think comparisons to Denilson are fair at all - their job description might be the same because Arteta is also being played as a holding mid, but it's the quality at which he does his job. It's the art (pun very much intended) of knowing where to be and covering when others are out of position. Very rarely have we been stretched and the opposition has been allowed to pile through the middle - against good teams in this run of 8 wins in 9.
He has been doing a good job. Probably not an exceptional job because he's not naturally a holding midfielder. He is having to play that role because I don't think there is anyone else who could play the role as well as he is. Song and Ramsey wouldn't be able to resist charging forward. These days I don't think it's possible to have 2 box-to-box CMs unless they know exactly when the other ones going to go etc.
