Criticism of Arsenal's style and set-pieces is utterly absurd - they aren't dour, they are a beautifully balanced team that is the class of the league, writes OLIVER HOLT

For two decades – in fact for the 21 years since they last won the Premier League title – the criticism aimed at Arsenal for their attempts to play beautiful football has been so withering it turned some players into stone and left them broken and in ruins.

Everyone has had fun ripping them to shreds and mocking them for the emptiness that was said to be at their heart.

They had the skill but they did not have the character and they did not have the fight. And they have been damned for that time after time after time.

They have been mocked and derided. A lot of people have had a lot of fun at their expense. They have been called spineless and gutless. They have been told they lack the right stuff. They have been told surrender was in their DNA.

Troy Deeney probably aimed the most famous criticism at them after Arsenal fell to a defeat at Watford in 2017.

‘There's a reason they lost and it wasn't because of one penalty,’ Deeney said. ‘I'll have to watch what I say but it's a bit of cojones, a bit of nuts.’

Those were in the dispiriting dog days of Arsene Wenger when the magic had gone and the steel had gone and all that remained was the beautiful idea. And it was no longer enough. Arsenal still had wonderfully elegant players like Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil but they became symbols of failure rather than beacons of art.

Roy Keane cornered the market in pouring scorn over them. ‘Listen,’ Keane said, after an Arsenal home defeat by Olympiacos 10 years ago. ‘They are soft. Arsenal are soft. They are weak. The goals they give away… we saw it, two set-pieces again.

‘They look like they lack characters, leaders and winners. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching Arsenal. I think they are great to watch, particularly going forward. But part of football, unfortunately, is defending and mentally, they are weak.’

So Arsenal have had their share of rebukes and derision. And they deserved them. They played football as an ideal but they were deeply flawed and they were no match for the teams that had overtaken them, particularly Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and, later, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

It’s all part of the reason why much of the criticism being aimed at Arsenal this season, when they sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League, is absolutely and utterly absurd.

The charge against them, as far as I can gather, is that Mikel Arteta has fixed all the problems that Arsenal were once lampooned for. Slowly but surely, he has changed the character of his team. They are not a soft touch anymore. In fact, they are the opposite of a soft touch.

They were once famous for their back four. Now they’re famous for it again. And there is no reason why that is something that should be sneered at. Martin Keown, one of the club’s great defenders, once said he saw a beauty in destruction and he was absolutely right.

It has not stopped people sneering at Arsenal and saying that they are not worthy. Those people say Arteta’s side will be a poor successor to the City teams of Guardiola and the Liverpool sides of Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot if they win the title this season.

They cite statistics that say Arsenal have scored fewer goals from open play in the league this season than almost every other side in the top flight.

They talk about their proficiency at scoring from set-pieces as if it is some sort of disease they should be ashamed of.

They are held up, in fact, as the standard-bearers of an ugly new phase of English football that has turned its back on Guardiola’s intricate and patient patterns and embraced a new directness. They are talked about as if they are a Vandal tribe laying waste to the beauty of Rome.

Again, that criticism is absurd. Arsenal do not play scintillating football every week but what team does? When I look at them, I do not see a dour side. I see a team that looks beautifully balanced, a team that is the class of the field.

They are brilliant at the back. Gabriel and William Saliba are the best central defensive pairing in the Premier League and have been for some time. Declan Rice has matured into the most formidable midfielder in the league, Bukayo Saka is one of the best forwards.

Sure, they can win ugly. It’s an attribute that every title-winning team needs to master. But anyone who says they only win ugly is fooling themselves. They can play ugly and they can play beautiful, too. Just like all the great teams.

There is beauty in the simplicity of Martin Zubimendi, there is beauty in the destructiveness of Gabriel, there is beauty in the marauding panache of Rice, there is beauty in the elegance of Saliba and in the sublime emerging talent of Myles Lewis-Skelly.

How can anyone not thrill to a side that has a player like Martin Odegaard at its heart, too? When he is fit, it is a privilege to watch him play, to observe his vision, the brilliance of his passing, the way he dictates the rhythm of the game. He would grace any side.

The same goes for Saka. Plenty of neutrals would identify him as their favourite player. Sometimes, his elusiveness is breathtaking, his left foot is a wand, he twists defenders inside out. Like John Robertson, the former Nottingham Forest winger, he can dominate games from wide.

This Arsenal side has it all. They have rid themselves of the naivety that used to damn them and they have reintroduced steel to the artistry that they once seemed to believe they should not sully with blood and sweat.

They may not win the title this season but the idea that, if they do, they somehow represent a downgrade on teams that have gone before is a joke.

Far from being an embarrassment, their transformation from a soft touch into a team that is a steel fist swathed in a velvet glove is a reason to sit back, enjoy and applaud.