Santi Cazorla

To conclude our mini-series analysing Arsenal's top four players of the season, our statistician looks at Santi Cazorla's 2012/13 numbers.

It was a question of quality and quantity from Santi Cazorla in 2012/13 - the Spaniard who played more minutes for Arsenal than anyone else during the campaign has won our Player of the Season award.

He was Arsenal's only ever-present during the Premier League campaign; he started 37 matches, and came on against Stoke City in the other.

Santi Cazorla 2012/13 appearances

It's the 11th instance of an Arsenal player appearing in every Premier League game in a season, and he's only the seventh outfield player to do it for the Club.

The 28-year-old also started all but one of the eight Champions League fixtures and played in both domestic cup competitions too, for a total of 49 appearances (47 from the start).

That translates into 4,254 minutes on the pitch, which was 88.1 per cent of the total available playing time.

And that time on the pitch was filled with highlights. Cazorla scored 12 goals during his debut season in English football (all in the league) and contributed 14 assists - including all four against Wigan in the final home game.

More than half of his goals came away from home, including a hat-trick at Reading in December.

Genuinely two-footed, four of his goals (33 per cent) came with his right boot, seven with his left (58 per cent) and he scored one header. Two of his goals were scored from outside the box (and several more from just inside).

His first goal against Aston Villa in February was his 10th in the Premier League, thereby making him the first Arsenal player to reach double figures in the league during his debut season since Thierry Henry in 1999/2000. Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski later emulated this feat.

Arsenal's ever-present players in Premier League era

Season	Ever-present
1995/96	Paul Merson, David Seaman, Lee Dixon
1996/97	Nigel Winterburn
2003/04	Jens Lehmann
2005/06	Jens Lehmann
2006/07	Cesc Fabregas
2007/08	Gael Clichy
2011/12	Wojciech Szczesny, Robin van Persie
2012/13	Santi Cazorla

Santi Cazorla 2012/13, game by game

Comp	Date	Opponent	F/A	W/D/L	H/A	Gls	Ast	Mins
PL	18/8/12	Sunderland	0-0	D	H	0	0	90
PL	26/8/12	Stoke	0-0	D	A	0	0	81
PL	2/9/12	Liverpool	2-0	W	A	1	1	90
PL	15/9/12	Southampton	6-1	W	H	0	1	90
CL	18/9/12	Montpellier	2-1	W	A	0	0	90
PL	23/9/12	Man City	1-1	D	A	0	0	90
PL	29/9/12	Chelsea	1-2	L	H	0	0	90
CL	3/10/12	Olympiacos	3-1	W	H	0	0	90
PL	6/10/12	West Ham	3-1	W	A	1	0	90
PL	20/10/12	Norwich	0-1	L	A	0	0	90
CL	24/10/12	Schalke	0-2	L	H	0	0	90
PL	27/10/12	QPR	1-0	W	H	0	0	90
PL	3/11/12	Man United	1-2	L	A	1	0	90
CL	6/11/12	Schalke	2-2	D	A	0	0	90
PL	10/11/12	Fulham	3-3	D	H	0	0	90
PL	17/11/12	Tottenham	5-2	W	H	1	1	90
CL	21/11/12	Montpellier	2-0	W	H	0	0	84
PL	24/11/12	Aston Villa	0-0	D	A	0	0	90
PL	28/11/12	Everton	1-1	D	A	0	0	90
PL	1/12/12	Swansea	0-2	L	H	0	0	90
PL	8/12/12	West Brom	2-0	W	H	0	1	88
COC	11/12/12	Bradford	1-1	D	A	0	1	120
PL	17/12/12	Reading	5-2	W	A	3	1	82
PL	22/12/12	Wigan	1-0	W	A	0	0	90
PL	29/12/12	Newcastle	7-3	W	H	0	1	86
PL	1/1/13	Southampton	1-1	D	A	0	0	74
FAC	6/1/13	Swansea	2-2	D	A	0	0	90
PL	13/1/13	Man City	0-2	L	H	0	0	90
FAC	16/1/13	Swansea	1-0	W	H	0	0	90
PL	20/1/13	Chelsea	1-2	L	A	0	1	90
PL	23/1/13	West Ham	5-1	W	H	1	0	90
PL	30/1/13	Liverpool	2-2	D	H	0	0	90
PL	2/2/13	Stoke	1-0	W	H	0	0	22
PL	9/2/13	Sunderland	1-0	W	A	1	0	90
FAC	16/2/13	Blackburn	0-1	L	H	0	0	19
CL	19/2/13	B. Munich	1-3	L	H	0	0	90
PL	23/2/13	Aston Villa	2-1	W	H	2	0	90
PL	3/3/13	Tottenham	1-2	L	A	0	0	90
CL	13/3/13	B. Munich	2-0	W	A	0	1	90
PL	16/3/13	Swansea	2-0	W	A	0	0	90
PL	30/3/13	Reading	4-1	W	H	1	1	90
PL	6/4/13	West Brom	2-1	W	A	0	0	89
PL	13/4/13	Norwich	3-1	W	H	0	0	90
PL	16/4/13	Everton	0-0	D	H	0	0	90
PL	20/4/13	Fulham	1-0	W	A	0	0	90
PL	28/4/13	Man United	1-1	D	H	0	0	90
PL	4/5/13	QPR	1-0	W	A	0	0	89
PL	14/5/13	Wigan	4-1	W	H	0	4	90
PL	19/5/13	Newcastle	1-0	W	A	0	0	90

Opta stats show that Cazorla took more touches of the ball than any other player in the Premier League this season - 3,258 in total, which equates to once every 61 seconds on the pitch.

Those touches were usually successful passes - he made 2,145 during the season, the fourth most in the league. However he was streets ahead for most successful passes where it really mattered - in the opposition half.

He racked up 1,645 successful passes in this area, nearly 200 more than the next best (Mikel Arteta, 1,473). The former Malaga man also had an 81.8 per cent accuracy rate for his 1,265 passes in the final third of the pitch (also a league high).

Perhaps more instructively, Opta stats also show Cazorla was third in the overall standings for chances created throughout the season. He set up 96 opportunities, behind Leighton Baines and David Silva.

The next highest on the list for chances created in the Arsenal squad was Jack Wilshere, who set up 47, despite only playing 25 games.

Most touches in Premier League, 2012/13 — Most touches in Premier League

Successful passes in opposition half, 2012/13 — Successful passes in opposition half

Passes in final third, 2012/13

Player	Passes	Accuracy %
Santi Cazorla	1,265	81.82
David Silva	973	79.45
Juan Mata	929	77.61
Steven Pienaar	890	76.85
Eden Hazard	874	82.15

Santi Cazorla 2012/13 season, month-by-month

	Minutes	Goals	Assists
August	171	0	0
September	450	1	2
October	450	1	0
November	624	2	1
December	556	3	4
January	614	1	1
February	311	3	0
March	360	1	2
April	449	0	0
May	269	0	4
Total	4254	12	14