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Mikel Arteta has been pin-pointed as a key player for the Blues during the forthcoming season by Blues' number two Alan Irvine.
The Everton assistant boss believes the technical ability of Arteta makes him a crucial player in terms of unlocking opposition defences.
The Spanish midfielder's pre-season was disrupted two weeks ago when he was diagnosed with chicken pox and had to return to Merseyside early from the club's training camp in Exeter.
But after playing 90 minutes against Bury and once again turning out in Wednesday's testimonial for Paul McKenna at Preston, Irvine is in no doubt that the form and fitness of Arteta will be a crucial factor for the Blues this term.
"Mikel had missed about a week's worth of training and obviously that is a long period at this stage when we are working on fitness," explained Irvine.
"But for the first 30 to 35 minutes (against Preston) he was absolutely terrific. He hit the wall then and for about 10 minutes before half-time in that game he was poor and it coincided with our worst period.
"After half-time, he was refreshed and did very well. We gave him 45 minutes against Preston but that was always the plan. We wanted to give him a bit of a breather and we are thinking ahead - not just about the matches we are playing.
"He is just a top, top player. Undoubtedly he's going to be very important to us this year. He is one of the most talented players we have got at the club and it is important that Mikel has a good season for us."
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I think i have to agree with this, We look at completly diffrent team when Arteta is not playing, The Liverpool match springs to mind TBH, they had 10 men an we should have fininshed them off, but created nothing. So the fittness on Arteta i fell will be crucial for us this season.We dont have another play who can fill arteta boots when he isn't there.