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There was a moment during Manchester United v West Ham when Alex Buttner, in that enthusiastic and vaguely marauding fashion he employs to distract you from his almost hilarious lack of ability, bustled inside from his left flank and tried to spice up a slow United attack.
Mohamed Diame stepped in, and with a flinch of his shoulder, a movement that could as easily have just been a small twitch or spasm, tossed Buttner to the ground like he was made of prawn crackers. Or was Theo Walcott. Diame was already looking up for a teammate before Buttner's shattered torso and ego had reached the ground.
Diame has been in the news this week in connection with a move to Arsenal, and while it might be lazy, ill-informed paper talk, it could at least be lazy, ill-informed paper talk that makes sense.
Watching Diame with one eye and with the other observing Arsenal desperately trying to cut through Swansea like a man trying to slice a stale and stubborn French stick with a plastic knife, it was easy to make the connection between the impressive midfielder and the frustrating team.
A couple of caveats before we continue. Firstly, the lack of a physical midfielder was not Arsenal's problem on Wednesday - if one was to pinpoint a single factor, it was their profligate finishing. Twas ever thus. The second point is that Diame was far from flawless at Old Trafford. He was occasionally quite dozy and sometimes looked like he wasn't in total control of his legs.
The point is that he offers something that Arsenal don't have, specifically a reliable physical midfield presence to help out Jack Wilshere - and before you start, Abou Diaby doesn't count. He's probably smacked himself in the face with a frying pan by the time you read this. Early estimates are four-six weeks out, which when put through the Arsenal Physio Filter, means his season is over. Sort of.
At times, it looked like Wilshere was trying to beat Swansea on his own, not only passing and probing in his usual manner, but bursting forwards from midfield when it became clear that Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud apparently weren't keen on scoring one of those goal things.
He was, to borrow the language of your Hansens and your Thompsons, trying to take the game by the 'scruff of the neck'. If his teammates weren't going to bother to win the game, Wilshere bloody well was. The problem is Wilshere can't do this every week. He's going to need a rest soon, for a start.
Diame can do that. He's a different sort of player to Wilshere, of course, but he can do similar things, specifically grab a game by the swingers and change it. He did that when West Ham played Chelsea earlier this season, coming on at half-time when the Hammers were 1-0 down, and by the time he was done the score was 3-1 and Rafa Benitez cursed his name.
The argument after Alex Song was sold and not replaced was that Arsenal don't necessarily need a midfielder who can tackle these days. Wilshere and Mikel Arteta can knock the ball around to the extent that a physical presence is almost redundant, and that might be the case in some games. But not all - in many they need a different option, someone to do a spot of marauding. Song and Diame are similar players in that lots of people think they're merely defensive midfielders, but are actually just as comfortable, threatening and useful going forwards.
He isn't the answer to all of Arsenal's problems (then again no single player is), he might not even get in the team every week, but he'll give them something different. And the best part is he's cheap - £3.5million via a clause in the contract he signed only six months ago, if you believe the sages of Fleet Street. There's really little reason not to at least try it, Arsene.
"I can't see where he is going to fit in," sniffed Sam Allardyce when asked about Arsenal's interest, attempting his Kaa from the Jungle Book act, eyes swirling, trying to convince Diame to stay at West Ham.
I can see where he'd fit in, and so should Arsene Wenger.
Nick Miller - he's on Twitter
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