By analyst Rhys Jagger :
This data is based on a spreadsheet, which I assembled through culling data from the club website results section :
1. Wenger has decided on his back five and it has played an overwhelming majority of the games: Szecesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs.
Each have started 23 or more of the 30 games.
Jenkinson, Monreal and Vermaelen have filled in occasionally, but none of them have had more than 10 starts.
2. Wenger has rotated Flamini, Arteta and Wilshere, either through pragmatism, necessity or design.
Each has started 15 – 20 games, with Wilshere slightly more than the other two.
3. He has started to rotate his attacking midfield, although injuries to Walcott and AOC have probably meant he has played Ramsey and Ozil more than optimal.
Broadly his attacking three midfielders has been Ozil + Ramsey+one other of Walcott, Cazorla or Rosicky. However, those three have all played significant numbers of games and can expect to continue to do so as Ramsey has a rest.
4. Giroud has been flogged to death up front, starting 26 of 30 games.
No wonder the guy is knackered!
Podolski’s injury has been a block, Bendtner’s reputation has been a block, and Sanogo’s signing has been a block.
No rotation at all, which may have been forced upon him but is also due to his summer transfer policy.
The other thing that is noticeable from the data, if you compare the goal scoring charts, is that in the first 20 games, Ramsey and Giroud dominated, whilst in the last 10 games they have only scored 3 between them.
Walcott, Ozil and Wilshere have chipped in 9 between them in those 10 games, which is making the distribution of goals look a bit more healthy now with 5 players having 4 goals or more in the first half of the season.
The issues for the second half of the season will concern whether the back four need a rest/some more serious rotation; how Wenger uses Ozil and Ramsey in the next 10 – 15 games and whether AOC, Bendtner and Podolski start playing significant numbers of games.
Overall, if he can give Ozil, Ramsey and Giroud a good rest through January, he should have a squad fresh enough to face the challenges of February and March still reasonably fresh.
Happy New Year!