Arsène Wenger will continue to play Aaron Ramsey off the right side of midfield as he fears that using him in partnership with Santi Cazorla in the centre would leave Arsenal too open. Ramsey made his comeback from a hamstring injury in Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb as a 64th-minute substitute when he was played off the left.
He has made no secret of his desire to be granted a central role, in which he would have the licence to break forward into the box, but Wenger has concerns about the balance of his team, now that the holding midfielder Francis Coquelin is out until March with knee ligament damage.
Mikel Arteta, who can play in the deeper role, is also injured – he has a calf problem that will keep him out for a month or so – and Wenger has turned to Mathieu Flamini to plug the gap.
Coquelin was one of the surprise packages of last season. When Wenger recalled him from a loan spell at Charlton Athletic in December to answer a selection crisis, the team’s results improved markedly and the manager has come to accept the need to include a player such as him whose instincts are to protect the back four.
“In my mind, I have seen that the turn of our results last season was when I went for a bit of stability and put Coquelin in there,” Wenger said. “Now, I am a bit cautious on that front and I do not want to unbalance the team.
“Ramsey is more an offensive player, he is not a tactical, defensive player. I will use him there [centrally] when the game demands but is he naturally, with Cazorla, a balanced pair? Defensively, certainly, it’s a very adventurous one!
“I used him on the right because he gives us a balance, because we have Özil, who is an offensive player, we have Sánchez, we have Giroud or Walcott [up front], and we have Cazorla, so to balance a bit defensively I use Ramsey on the right. That’s where I will certainly continue to use him, unless the game demands to attack.”
Wenger tried Ramsey in the defensive midfield role during pre-season but he felt that it inhibited his game. “He is not afraid to tackle but he likes to go in the box,” Wenger said. “He has a good timing of runs and he wants the ball and he wants to go forward. If you take that out of him, if you say: ‘Look, you have to sit now, sit there and wait,’ you kill his strengths. Ramsey can do it with Coquelin, and Cazorla can do it with Coquelin but Cazorla and Ramsey is a bit ...”
It would appear Ramsey faces a straight fight with Cazorla for the No8 role he covets and, given the Spaniard’s importance, his chances of regular starting football would surely be stronger in the wide position. At Norwich City on Sunday, though, Wenger will find it difficult to put Ramsey in ahead of Joel Campbell, who was excellent on the right against Dinamo.
The injuries to Coquelin and Arteta have prompted Wenger to turn his attentions to the January transfer market, and the hunt for defensive midfield cover.
“Arteta is not a Coquelin but he is a tactical player, who loves to sit now because he is going forward less,” Wenger said. “In my mind, I always had Arteta and Flamini and Coquelin. But Arteta was injured a lot, so I played Coquelin. But with Arteta and Coquelin both injured, we are a bit short.
“That’s why I played, as well, Calum Chambers for 10 minutes [against Dinamo] in midfield to see how he positions, and we are happy because he can do it. It’s nearly impossible to find, in January, a top, top player. But you have your eyes open. You never know, you can have a surplus [at a club] somewhere or players who do not play and who have the quality. We’ll see.”