As Arsenal move up to second place in the Premier League, two points off leaders Manchester City, Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott’s goalscoring form has seen them (deservedly) become the name on everyone’s lips, but there are other players who are playing a major role in this Arsenal side. One such player is Santi Cazorla.
His dazzling tricks and movement to retain the ball when tackled is often highlighted, but he adds so much more to the Arsenal side and most of this often goes unnoticed.
In late December last year, Francis Coquelin was recalled from his loan at Charlton and brought into the Arsenal squad. The Frenchman’s defensive prowess added some much-needed steel to the north London side, improving the team a great deal, but the Gunners lost out on the ball playing skills of Mikel Arteta.
While Coquelin wasn’t a poor passer, he was by no means a ball distributor. The role of Arteta to hold and redistribute possession while linking the defence and attack is something that was something that neither the Frenchman nor Aaron Ramsey were especially good at, leaving the distributor role unfulfilled and thus Santi was moved to a deeper role to help sort out that problem. The move worked out brilliantly. Coquelin and Cazorla’s double pivot partnership became the heart of an incredible Arsenal side that went on to win more points than any other side in the second half of the league campaign.
Coquelin’s passing has improved massively since then, but the overall picture remains the same – and that’s not a bad thing. Let’s put it this way, having Cazorla next to Coquelin gives 24-year-old the freedom to do what he does best; be Arsenal’s defensive midfielder. Francis Coquelin’s defensive style and energy also allows Cazorla to be comfortable in possession knowing that Coquelin has him covered. Playing alongside each other brings out the best of both of them and thus their partnership has evolved into one of the best in the Premier League.
The fact that the 30-year-old has the role of the distributor in the team is probably why he regularly gets the nod over Ramsey to start in central midfield. A justified decision given that Cazorla’s passing ability is a major part of the reason why Arsenal have control in most games. He has the highest number of successful passes in the Premier League so far this season. 576 passes completed (out of 635 attempted) at a completion rate of 91%. That’s over 150 successful passes more than the next Arsenal player.
These aren’t just backward passes, but they also help Arsenal move forward. Out of those 635 attempted, 454 have been forward passes. Santi has also completed 413 successful passes in the opposition half at a pass completion rate of 83.60%. Once again, the most in the Premier League.
His deeper role hasn’t affected his creativity either. He chalked up 11 assists last season, more than any other Premier League player except for Cesc Fabregas. This season he has created 29 chances so far, the third highest in the Premier League and only behind Mesut Ozil in the Arsenal squad. He does have only two assists but that should increase as the season goes on, especially if Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott can keep up their goal-scoring form.
Despite his size, he has been chipping in quite well defensively. He averages 2.3 in both tackles and interceptions per game while maintaining an average of 1.1 clearances per game. He has also won back possession in the defensive third more times than any other Premier League player this season.
On the downside, Cazorla’s shooting has been incredibly frustrating. He last scored a goal from open play in the league nearly a year ago on the 13th of December 2014. He managed to score seven goals last season but six of those were from penalties.
With eight league games played this season so far, Cazorla has failed to get himself on the score-sheet even once. The simple truth is that a player of his calibre should be scoring far more than he does. He did manage to score a brace for Spain on Friday, but it would still be extremely optimistic to believe that the Spaniard could start scoring regularly once again for either club or country.
With that being said, Cazorla is still a key player for Arsenal. Unfortunately his brilliance this season has often been overshadowed by his frustrating end product in front of goal and his importance in keeping a balanced Arsenal side is often overlooked.
His play might not have many dramatic moments these days, but he is still a major part of what keeps Arsenal ticking and that’s what sees him start almost every game.
