Santi Cazorla Is the Arsenal Player Set to Benefit from Jack Wilshere's Injury

Jack Wilshere has once again gone under the knife, following yet another ankle injury.

The Englishman has had a crippling amount of injuries in the last few seasons, and will face several more months on the sideline after undergoing surgery to repair damaged ankle ligaments.

Fans like to blame Arsenal's coaching staff or medical team for injuries whenever possible, but they could have done nothing to avoid this one. Wilshere was merely attempting to dribble through traffic at pace when Paddy McNair mistimed a challenge and planted his studs right on the top of Wilshere's ankle.

Arsenal and Wilshere are lucky that Wilshere did not rupture every ligament in his ankle or suffer a compound fracture. While not cynical, that challenge is reminiscent of Dan Smith's tackle on Abou Diary, which has derailed the Frenchman's career.

Regardless, Arsene Wenger's tactical plans have no doubt changed. The manager has seemed intent on forging a successful partnership between Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey this season, despite their continued ineffectuality when deployed in the same midfield.

Neither has been in particularly good form this season, and they seem to augment each other's weaknesses when they play alongside each other. They each want to press forward and are a bit too selfish for their own good.

Mesut Ozil is not due back for another month at least, so Wenger has to find a new partner for Ramsey. The obvious solution is Santi Cazorla.

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After enduring a period of poor form for virtually the entire season, Cazorla has flourished in recent games. He has always been able to maneuver out of tight spaces, and he has displayed this Messi-esque skill to marvelous effect in Arsenal's last few matches. The Spaniard's wriggling and twisting spurred numerous productive attacks against Borussia Dortmund and West Brom.

Cazorla plays much better when given a proper midfield role instead of his usual "technically a left winger but free to roam wherever the ball is" nonsense.

He and the team do better when he is allowed to move within the confines of midfield. Arsenal gain an extra wide player who actually stays wide and can run at full-backs, while unclogging the center of the pitch.

Cazorla is also excellent at creating chances for others, which is often overlooked in favor of his superb dribbling and shooting skill.

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He is not strictly a creative player like Ozil, but this is good for everyone. He can bring the ball up the pitch, work out of pressure and pick the final ball. He can essentially combine Wilshere, Ozil and Ramsey's roles.

Cazorla does not perform them as well as each does individually, of course, but he is not allowed to do so in the first place when he is shunted to the left wing. When he plays in midfield, it is not so hard to see why Wenger kept faith in him this season.

It will be interesting to see how the manager uses his attacking options in the weeks ahead. He has experimented with playing Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud in the same team, meaning that the Gunners are bereft of an out-and-out winger, though in favor of a striker and not a midfielder.

When Ozil returns in a month or so, Wenger will not be able to deploy that unconventional formation unless he benches one of Ozil, Cazorla or Ramsey. He is always reluctant to leave any of those three out of the team.

However Wenger decides to resolve that tension in several weeks, now is Cazorla's time to shine.

He has played remarkably well in his last couple games, suggesting that he will no longer disappear from games as he has for so much of this season. Arsenal are a much better attacking side when Cazorla is pulling the strings in midfield.

Yet Wenger only seems willing to give the little Spaniard that chance when one of his usual starters in the middle of the pitch is injured. With Wilshere out of the picture for the time being, Cazorla is well positioned to take his chance.

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