Lack of Santi Cazorla Influence Hurts Arsenal in Derby Defeat at Tottenham

Despite employing the strategy that brought them a win at the Etihad against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal could not muster a performance or a result to match. Unfortunately for Arsene Wenger, this was a day on which Harry Kane outshone Santi Cazorla and the rest of the Arsenal team. 

In recent weeks, Cazorla has been nigh unplayable. Manchester City could not live with his twinkle-toed brilliance, and last week, he was devastating as Arsenal dismantled Aston Villa. With that in mind, Spurs deserve enormous credit for keeping him so quiet.

Cazorla barely got a kick before Tomas Rosicky replaced him, with Ryan Mason particularly effective at closing him down in the centre of the park. Without Cazorla to grease the cogs of their intricate interplay, Arsenal struggled to get going. 

Wenger had clearly sought to set the team up in a similar fashion to the strategy that enabled them to win at Manchester City. To that end, Danny Welbeck was selected to start ahead of Theo Walcott. Welbeck offers greater defensive protection and a better all-round game than Walcott, who is a finisher first and foremost.

That selection appeared to pay dividends when Welbeck raced beyond Danny Rose to create the opener for Mesut Ozil. However, as the game wore on, the tide turned in Tottenham's favour. They played with a fierce intensity, and Arsenal could not live with them in the centre of the park.

That saw Cazorla squeezed out of the game, which massively decreased Arsenal's attacking threat. When you set up to play on the break, it's vital to make the most of every single counter-attack. In his current form, Cazorla is capable of doing exactly that; he has been remarkably efficient of late, scoring or creating a goal in almost every game.

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However, at White Hart Lane, Arsenal simply couldn't get him on the ball. That meant playmaking duties ended up falling to the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Welbeck. The latter is understandably rusty after a spell on the sidelines, while Ramsey is still struggling to recapture the form that saw him named as Arsenal's Player of the Season last year. The absence of Alexis Sanchez, a mercurial maverick who is capable of producing something out of nothing, was painfully palpable.

Talking to Arsenal's official website after the match, Wenger spoke plainly about the flaws in Arsenal's game:

"

We defended well. We scored early but I think going forward, we didn't produce enough. When we went forward, we always looked dangerous to score but were we too focused to defend our goal? I think so. I believe that we made too many technical mistakes compared to our usual level, because of Tottenham in the middle of the park. They put us under pressure and we lost some balls we are not used to losing.

"

Arsenal will be disappointed with the sloppy defending that allowed Spurs back into the game, but their failure to provide a consistent attacking threat was as big a part of their undoing. The City game was not quite the rearguard action you might imagine, as the Gunners managed to pose a persistent problem for Manuel Pellegrini's side on the break.

At Spurs, they were a blunt attacking force, which enabled Tottenham to seize the initiative and, ultimately, the three points.

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