Arsenal: Revolution occurs if Aaron Ramsey brings back key trait

Aaron Ramsey is scoring goals again. Like during his phenomenal 2013/14 campaign, if the Welsh midfielder can consistently score, he will revolutionise this Arsenal team.

Ever since the 2013/14 season where Aaron Ramsey put together a blistering campaign which saw him recognised as one of the most exciting and influential midfielders in the Premier League, the Arsenal starlet has been striving to rediscover the same form.

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Thanks to various different issues, like injuries, positional uncertainty and simple losses in confidence, Ramsey has been unable to play at the same high level. His form has peaked and troughed, lacking the same consistent impact that he provided during that breakout season, and the risks that he has taken when in possession have not quite come off for him.

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And statistically, it is clear to see the depreciation of his influence, especially in an attacking sense. During the 2013/14 season, Ramsey played 1764 Premier League minutes. In those minutes, he scored 10 goals and recorded eight assists. That meant he had a direct involvement in a goal every 98.0 minutes. That is an excellent record, especially for a central midfielder.

But since then, he has been unable to replicate the same attacking productivity. The next year, Ramsey, in the Premier League, played 2010 minutes, scored six goals and assisted six goals, yielding a direct involvement in a goal every 167.5 minutes. In 2015/16, Ramsey played 2624 minutes in the Premier League, scoring five goals and assisting four. He, therefore, had a direct involvement in a goal every 291.5 minutes. And last season, Ramsey scored one goal, assisted four, playing in 1231 minutes. He had a direct involvement in a goal every 246.2 minutes.

As you can see, Ramsey’s attacking production reduced drastically from his excellent 2013/14 season. Now, goals and assists tallies are not a wholly accurate depiction of a player’s attacking impact. There is far more nuance to football that numbers will never be able to capture properly. But they do serve as a general outline as to the depreciation in the form of Ramsey.

However, his direct involvement in goals per minute this season has improved again, back up to 135.2 minutes. It is not yet at the 98 minutes of the 2013/14 season. But it is far better than his figures in more recent years. Moreover, Ramsey has now scored two goals in his last two appearances, including the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback victory against Swansea City.

If Ramsey is able to consistently provide the attacking threat that he did during the 2013/14 season, then this Arsenal team will be revolutionised. With the front three of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette beginning to purr already, throwing a peak Ramsey into the mix would elevate Arsenal’s attack to one of the very best that the Premier League can offer.

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Ramsey has always been a phenomenally talented player, and, as proven, in glimpses, he has always been capable of strings of performances like during that 2013/14 season. But he has been unable to execute consistently at the level expected of him. Perhaps this year, that is beginning to change; perhaps this year, Ramsey brings back that same attacking threat. If so, revolution could come to Arsenal.