Arsenal: Rumored Santi Cazorla Dependency Rattled

Arsenal has been missing Santi Cazorla, no doubt, but maybe we’ve just been looking for an excuse. We don’t miss him as much as you think.

Losing Santi Cazorla, yet again, to a long term injury was enough to make any given Gooner toss their hands up in blind frustration. He has become such a central piece of the Arsenal puzzle. Many blame Ozil’s struggles on the lack of Cazorla and it’s hard not to see how well the Spaniard linked up defense and offense.

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So the easy way out is to say that with Cazorla, Arsenal wouldn’t not have dropped crucial points and would be right up there with Chelsea. Sure, why not?

But recent stats show that it might not be that simple.

According to those stats, Arsenal scores (2) and concedes (1) the same number of goals with or without the Spaniard. They averages two points a game with or without him as well. The only difference is in win-rate. The Gunners win 60% of their matches with him and 51% without.

But the points, goals and goals conceded are where the argument is at. Maybe Santi Cazorla isn’t the be-all end-all of this Arsenal midfield.

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Granted, those stats go back to 2012, when he wasn’t as big of a part as he has been in the past two years. What you really need to look at is the claims of dependency since he became such a vital piece of that holding midfield duo. So essentially, the last two years, when injuries have interfered with his stay.

In the past two years, the Gunners have gone 26-13-10 without the Spaniard and 21-6-7 with him. Getting down to the crucial figure, that means that with him, the Gunners average 2.02 points per match and without him, a not-far-off 1.85.

There is a difference there that is worth noting. They say that 2 points a game is where you want to be and with Cazorla we have that. But without him we aren’t exactly that far off and with the proper replacement, that gap could be mitigated fairly simply. Even if that replacement is an in-form Ramsey.

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Santi Cazorla probably won’t be back this year, but right now, the Gunners are not hurting all that terribly and by the end of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers even out a bit and look more equal. That will all come down to Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka, who are responsible for plugging the gap.