Investigating Why Tomas Rosicky Can't Get a Game at Arsenal

As Arsene Wenger struggles to find the correct alchemy in his starting XI, one man is curiously absent from the equation. Tomas Rosicky can barely get a game at Arsenal.

So far this season he’s made just one start, and that came in the Capital One Cup tie with Southampton. His three cameos in the Premier League add up to a combined total of just 30 minutes.

When he has played, he hasn't performed to anything like his best. However, Rosicky would doubtless contend that it's impossible to find form without sufficient game time.

Speaking to Czech publication Denik (h/t Squawka), Rosicky expressed consternation at his lack of opportunity:

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I’m not sure what’s going on. I understand that I am 34-years-old and that it probably plays a role whether I like it or not. That’s without doubt. However, I’m not in physical decline.

When I played for the national team against Holland I ran 12km and according to the tests at Arsenal I’m in the top five (players) in terms of speed.

We are on good terms, so I do not really know what it is. It is purely a coach’s decision. It’s not my decline. My health is fine too. Of course I want to play, but there’s not much I can do about it.

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It’s a strange and sudden fall from grace. Last season was actually Rosicky’s best in terms of regularity of appearance. He played 39 times in all competitions, scoring three outstanding goals—two against Tottenham Hotspur—along the way.

Throughout the last couple of seasons, Rosicky has been one of Arsene Wenger’s most trusted lieutenants. Much like Park Ji-Sung at Manchester United, Rosicky was frequently deployed in the bigger games. 

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Perhaps it’s here we hit upon the first reason he has become somewhat surplus to requirements. In the past, Wenger used Rosicky against superior opponents because of his high-energy pressing game.

This season, with the high-octane duo of Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck leading from the front, his unrelenting work rate is not quite so unique an attribute in the Arsenal squad. Wenger no longer relies exclusively on Rosicky to introduce tempo to the game.

However, there is another possibility to consider and it's connected to the nature of Rosicky's Arsenal contract. In March 2014, Alex Richards of the Mirror reported that Rosicky had signed a “two-year deal” with Arsenal. The precise nature of that contract, as is typical in the Gunners’ dealings, remained undisclosed. 

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Recently, club captain Mikel Arteta appeared to agree a deal of ostensibly similar length. Wayne Veysey of Goal.com claims to have dug a little deeper on the precise details:

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The Spanish midfielder, whose current deal expires next summer, will put pen to paper on an agreement than runs until 2016.

Goal has learned that under the terms of the deal the 32-year-old will be entitled to a further extension beyond next season if he makes a certain number of first-team appearances in 2015-16.

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That seems eminently plausible. Wenger is infamously reluctant to hand anything longer than a one-year deal to players in the latter stages of their careers. A performance-related extension would be a way of mitigating the risk of retaining players who have ceased to be useful.

It’s entirely possible that Rosicky is in a similar situation. If Wenger has effectively decided the Czech international does not have a long-term future with the club, he is not going to hand him a string of substitute appearances for fear of triggering an unnecessary extension.

That would go some way toward explaining why we’re not seeing Rosicky as frequently as we were last season.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2014/15 season. Follow him on Twitter here.