Dixon: Defending key for Arsenal

Brazilian Gabriel Paulista joined the Barclays Premier League club earlier this week after receiving international clearance on a move from Villarreal.

Dixon - who made more than 600 appearances for Arsenal between 1988 and 2002, winning the League Championship four times and three FA Cups, completing the Double twice - believes the arrival of the 24-year-old is a positive move which will provide some much-needed cover.

However, the former England international, who attended the Street League Challenge Victory Cup in Canary Wharf on Wednesday evening, believes the whole Arsenal squad must take a collective responsibility when it comes to defensive duties.

"I was brought up in the George Graham era of defending from the front, and the least amount of work your back four does, then the better you are playing defensively - and that means from the front," Dixon told Press Association Sport.

"I don't think it is about the back four, it is about the team.

"We have a mentality in the Arsenal team at the moment which is not geared around defending, and it has taken a couple of years for us to realise that it is not all about when we have got the ball, it is about when we have not got the ball, and we are not the best without the ball.

"It looks like we are getting better, but it takes time.

"Everyone talks about the back four as if it is just a clicked-in machine which turns up and plays. We worked our socks off every single day in training and we did that for 10 years.

"Then at the end of that 10 years, you have got a unit which is learning still, but which is pretty much robotic in knowing what each other was doing, but that takes time."

Dixon continued: "You have to have protection in front of you - it is about knowing when to get forwards, so it is not just about the defence, it is about the team mentality.

"That does not change just by buying a centre-half, it is not going to be solved overnight. It has got to be solved on the training ground and turning the team into one enjoying the game without the ball, and I don't think we do that as much as we should at times."

Arsenal's preferred central defensive partnership has been Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.

As such, Gabriel accepts he will have to earn his place in the team, but Dixon believes the defender has all the requirements to make the transition.

"There is no doubt an experienced player who has been at Villarreal will be an asset in that department," Dixon added.

"The bits I have seen of him, he certainly has all of the attributes to adapt to the Premier League - he is very aggressive, is brave and relatively quick, so I think he will be a big asset."

The Street League Academy programme helps young people aged 16-25 from the most disadvantaged backgrounds complete the charity's 10-week football and education programme which develops key employability skills, including functional Maths and English, before moving into a six-week work placement.

Dixon said: "I have met some of the lads who have been through the Street League Academy programme and it is quite inspirational to see the sparkle in their eye now after they were in some really dark places.

"Football has brought them to this environment and given them something else to focus on other than hanging around, not having a job and being in a place where they are not happy.

"The transition from then to now is extra-ordinary and it is just brilliant to see."