Can Arsene Wenger Get the Best out of Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla for Arsenal?

Regardless of how good they happen to be, it is not always the easiest thing in the world to fit two similar players into the same team. Anyone who has watched England over the last 10 years could tell you that.

Since Santi Cazorla returned to the Arsenal fold, there can be no denying that the form of Mesut Ozil has dipped. It isn’t an alarming dip, but it's enough to raise some level of concern.

In terms of attacking-midfield threat and languid creativity, Cazorla was Arsenal’s main man last season, and we saw at Manchester United last campaign how the arrival of a star can put another player’s nose out of joint a bit.

But there is no indication whatsoever of annoyance, in fact, in an interview with the Guardian, the Spaniard seemed utterly chuffed to bits at the arrival of Ozil:

"I was," he laughs, "like a little kid." He is talking, of course, about the moment that seemed to change everything, the day that Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil. "I was injured, so it was a few more days before I had the chance to train with him," Cazorla says as he settles into a chair in the bar at the Spanish Football Federation's HQ. "And I was getting really excited. A great player's coming and one you know you're going to fit with, enjoy playing with. I was a fan, looking forward to it."

So if there is no apparent problem off the pitch, then it is hopefully just a case of the time it will take for them to gel on it. 

Ozil and Cazorla are both playmakers who excel at starting in the centre of the pitch and creating space for others by drifting from outward rather than charging toward goal. 

The German started in this role brilliantly for Arsenal before the return of his Spanish counterpart. In the final league game before Cazorla's return, the 1-1 draw away at West Brom, you can see Ozil's central role illustrated in this graphic provided by 442 statszone:

But when Cazorla returned from injury, Ozil’s positioning changed entirely. In the first game they both started in—the 4-1 win at home to Norwich—Ozil shifted over to the right and, despite them both putting in good displays, the two hardly even combined. 

Just look at the difference in positioning from the first 58 minutes while they were both on the pitch:

To the final 32 minutes after Cazorla was substituted:

It's almost as though Arsene Wenger was trying to separate them on purpose...

Since then, both have tried to play far more centrally, and both have struggled to be truly influential. In Arsenal's recent loss away at Manchester United, both tried to play through the middle, and Manchester United found it easy enough to defend very narrowly to starve them of space and time:

Theo Walcott

The return of Walcott could make all the difference.

So far, Ozil and Cazorla have been fielded alongside either Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey or Tomas Rosicky, three players who are not equipped to stretch a game of football with pace and direction. Walcott will provide that. And they will benefit from the extra space that it will create.

Before, teams could play a high line in the knowledge that Olivier Giroud is never going to realistically sprint in behind.

Southampton's pressing style high up the pitch should have been well-equipped to deal with Arsenal's style at the weekend, and who knows how the game would have ended up were it not for Artur Boruc's cataclysmic error.

Walcott will bring an extra dimension to their team and will help get the best out of his fellow midfielders over the course and distance.

To be fair, Arsenal have done extremely well so far anyway, but their fans should be excited that things can still get better. From a neutral perspective, it would be wonderful if Wenger can find the formula to get the very best out of his two most exciting creative players.

It would be such a shame if another pair fell by the wayside just because they were too similar to play together.