“[When you’re out for] three months, then it takes two or three weeks. “He has worked very hard for a while in training now. What he lacks is competition.
“He’s an all-round midfielder who can score goals and always drives the team forward. He’s a real box-to-box player so it’s good to have him back.
“It’s an area where we are short because we have many midfielders out. We have Wilshere and Ozil out in this area, so of course it’s good to have him back.” – Arsene Wenger
These words show how delighted Arsene Wenger is to have a player like Ramsey back in his ranks following a lengthy layoff on his birthday against West Ham. Ramsey started the season in a hot streak with three goals in two games against Fenerbahce in the Champions League playoffs and Mikel Arteta’s thigh injury gave Ramsey a chance to maraud the box-to-box role alongside new recruit, Mathieu Flamini, that manned the anchor role.
Following a great performance in the Olivier Giroud-inspired win against the old enemy, a hot Ramsey went into supernova in the month of September with a brace against Sunderland, a late winner against Olympique Marseille, the match opener against Stoke and the game clincher against Swansea. His efforts in the month didn’t go unnoticed as he was given the Barclays Player of the Month award while his manager, Arsene Wenger, won the Manager of the Month award.
Ramsey didn’t rest on his laurels and the good form continued in October and November, as the Welshman scored a wonder goal against Norwich, a thunderbolt against Liverpool, a brave header in Germany and two goals against his previous employers, Cardiff. This took his tally to 13 goals for the campaign and he was leading the club’s scoring charts before Olivier Giroud caught up with him in the goal count and overtook him.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t just the goals that epitomized Ramsey’s scintillating form for the club in the first half of the season. Ramsey’s stats this s (via WhoScored) have been jaw-dropping to say the least,
| STATS (EPL Only) |
Aaron Ramsey |
| Appearances (Subs) |
17 (1) |
| Goals Scored |
8 |
| Assists |
6 |
| Overall shots (Shots per Game) |
40 (2.2) |
| Bookings (Yellow / Red) |
2 / 0 |
| Total Tackles (Tackles per Game) |
66 (3.7) |
| Total Interceptions (Interceptions per Game) |
19 (1.1) |
| Total Fouls Committed (Fouls per Game) |
27 (1.5) |
| Dribbles (Attempted/Per Game) |
27 (1.5) |
| Total Passes (Accurate Passes) |
1262 (1064) |
| Pass Completion % |
84.3 |
| Total Long Balls (Accurate) |
89 (62) |
| Total Through Balls (Accurate) |
23 (7) |
With the fitness levels of an Ox, Ramsey played Arsenal’s first 18 games in the Premier League, notching up eight goals and six assists. In these 18 games, Arsenal amassed 12 wins, three draws and suffered three defeats. Ramsey missed out on Arsenal’s remaining 14 League games and in his absence, the Gunners have eight victories, three draws and suffered three defeats which include those humiliating results against Liverpool and Chelsea.
This shows that the Gunners had a 66% win ratio in the Premier League when Ramsey took to the pitch but had a 57% win ratio while he was at the treatment table.
In Europe, Ramsey made eight appearances and scored five goals (which includes the two qualifiers and the six group stage fixtures) but he missed the crucial double-legged knockout affair with Bayern Munich where it was a classic case of deja vu as the Gunners were below par at home before a spirited performance in Germany that wasn’t enough to secure qualification.
Ramsey was a growing influential figure within the team and his absence was a bitter pill to swallow as the Gunners lacked his determination, inspiration, commitment, doggedness, technical ability, and most importantly, goals.
With Ramsey out, Arsenal struggled to find goals from other sources, with Theo Walcott suffering an unfortunate anterior cruciate ligament injury when he was picking form in the right time. Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Lukas Podolski have stepped up the plate on a couple of occasions but the team has been over-reliant on Olivier Giroud and we all know how it has panned out. The Handsome French Bloke has done well to score 19 goals thus far but without the likes of Ramsey, things haven’t been the same.
I won’t expect Ramsey to start against Everton tomorrow but the FA Cup semifinal against Wigan would be a perfect opportunity for the Welsh Messi to show the fans what they’ve missed.
Over to you Gooners, Aaron Ramsey is fit again but how badly was he missed?
Sayonara.
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