With a 10-to-12 week knee ligament problem, Mesut Özil is the latest casualty in Arsenal’s annual injury merry-go-round. And make no mistake — despite the recent trend of blaming the German playmaker for all of Arsenal’s poor performances, Özil comfortably leads Arsenal in chances created, completed passes in the final third, and successful crosses.

So, no matter how unfavorable your current view of Özil, the long-term loss of a player of his quality would be a major blow for any team, but Arsenal may be better suited than most to cope with such a loss. Waiting in the wings (rather literally), ready to shine again, is Santi Cazorla.

Cazorla should be positioned to make more passes like this. (AP)

It wasn’t so long ago that Cazorla — not Aaron Ramsey or Danny Welbeck or Alexis Sanchez — was the darling of the Emirates Stadium terraces. His magnificent 12-goal, 11-assist debut league campaign earned him Arsenal’s Player of the Season in 2012–13, and at the start of last season he looked primed to continue as the Gunners’ main man. Things changed, however, with the Deadline Day signing of Özil in summer 2013. Özil took over No. 10 duties, and though Cazorla still started nearly every game, he was forced to play as a wide left midfielder, a position which takes him out of his preferred central role.

As a result of last season’s position change, Cazorla suffered a substantial dip in production, dropping to four goals and eight assists, and the underlying numbers aligned with the drop in goal contributions. Cazorla’s minutes per chance created rose from 36.4 to 40.8, while his minutes per shot increased from 30.1 to 36.9. Further, his successful through balls dropped significantly, from a total of 65 to just 17.

It’s not particularly hard to see why Cazorla’s production tailed off last season: he’s simply ill-suited to play in wide areas. Cazorla lacks the pace of the world’s best inverted wingers—players such as Eden Hazard or Arjen Robben—and thus he is unable to make driving runs into promising passing/shooting positions. He’s also not much of an out-and-out winger; beating fullbacks and whipping in crosses is not in his (nor Arsenal’s) DNA. As a wide player, Cazorla is still useful in possession and interchanges nicely with overlapping fullbacks, but on the whole, he’s largely unable to pick out dangerous passes or get into threatening shooting positions.

All of this changes when Cazorla plays in an advanced central position. The Spaniard has exceptionally quick feet, and he’s able to create a yard or two of space almost at will. In and around the center of the box, that little bit of space is often all that’s needed. One benefit of these quick feet is goal scoring. We got a good look at this in August’s Community Shield, when Cazorla started in a central position and scored the opening goal via a nifty touch into space on the edge of the box.

The other item of note in the above video: Cazorla is almost perfectly two-footed, which makes him even harder to mark in areas such as this, as he can create that yard of space equally dangerously in either direction. While deadly in the middle of the pitch, this skill is largely wasted on the wing, aside from the minor value provided by capably crossing with both feet.

Even more beneficial than Cazorla’s improved scoring from central areas, though, is his enhanced assist threat. Cazorla has wonderful vision in the final third, and he thrives when he plays centrally and has a wide range of forward passing options at his disposal. His passing weapon of choice is the through ball, a pass that he plays better than just about anyone in the Premier League—his total of 65 successful through balls two seasons ago (when he played as a No. 10) is 15 more than anyone has managed in a single season since 2012–13. Interestingly, it’s also 49 more than Özil played last season.

That elite ability to play through balls is the biggest reason why Cazorla is so much better in the middle than on the wing. This is an oversimplified illustration, but it serves to demonstrate the difference in through ball options Cazorla has out wide compared to when he plays centrally. The first image depicts his through ball options as a winger—remember that he only played 17 successfully last season after racking up 65 the season before.

In the above image, Cazorla can play the overlap with Kieran Gibbs or he can maybe slide a through ball into Danny Welbeck. But in most cases, neither pass will prove particularly dangerous as far as producing a shot on goal. Gibbs will only be able to cross, whereas Welbeck’s momentum will almost certainly be taking him away from goal. Again, while the likes of Hazard and Robben can carry the ball horizontally into more threatening areas, Cazorla’s pace and strength issues render him largely unable to do so.

This changes drastically when Cazorla is in the middle. From here, he can slide dangerous through balls into his striker’s path or either of his wide midfielders.

The chart doesn’t depict it, but he also often has a central midfielder rampaging in to the final third as well, whether it’s Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshere. The glut of through ball options makes him infinitely more dangerous when played centrally.

The final reason for Arsenal optimism regarding Cazorla in a central role?Improved attacking personnel from 2012–13. And more importantly, personnel that is better suited for Cazorla’s game. We’ve already established that Cazorla is a master of the through ball, and one who put up dominant through ball numbers back in 2012–13. The most impressive part of that statistic is not the gaudy total itself, but rather that he did it with a lead-footed striker in Olivier Giroud as his primary target. Giroud is a very good player, but he’s the worst possible forward type to pair with Cazorla. He simply lacks the pace to get in behind defenses with any consistency, thus wasting Cazorla’s greatest asset.

In the current Arsenal side, Giroud has been replaced by the much speedier Welbeck—who is something of the ideal striker for Cazorla—and both wide midfielders are quick and attack-minded as well. It’ll likely be Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain out wide for now, which is a potent pair in and of itself. But once Theo Walcott makes his imminent return from an ACL injury, Cazorla stands to really come back in full force.

Watch how this comes into play against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge back in the 2012–13 campaign. With a sea of Chelsea defenders in front of him, Cazorla still manages to slide a majestic through ball into Walcott’s path, setting the winger up for a simple enough finish.

The forward runner here is Walcott, but in the current Arsenal side it really could also be any one of Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain, or Sanchez, which bodes exceptionally well for Arsenal.

Cazorla may not be able to reach the world-beating heights of a peak Özil, but the Spaniard’s steady excellence should prove a nice antidote to Özil’s consistent inconsistency. In Cazorla, the Gunners have the right man in the right place to lead the charge back toward the top of the table.

All statistics courtesy of Opta and are taken from Premier League matches only.