Santi Cazorla was subbed off at half time in our 1-1 draw against Tottenham due to him feeling dizzy.

Although the boss claimed he wasn’t ill, he took him off and replaced him with Flamini.

Wenger believes the loss of Santi was one of the main reasons we played so badly, as the midfielder is usually our ‘guide’.

“It was a very intense game,” the boss said.

“We have been unlucky as in the first half we played without Santi Cazorla at his full power. We suffered in the middle of the park as he is the guide in our game and he couldn’t even pass the ball so I took him off.”

This is completely plausible. So often, Santi is the player in midfield who keeps things ticking over; he’s like a metronome and is always at the heart of everything. His creativity and skill are magical to watch and therefore, when he wasn’t playing at his best at all against Spurs, it became clear something wasn’t right.

Obviously, these suspicions were confirmed when the midfielder failed to reappear for the second half and after the match Wenger confirmed he’d not even been fully conscious.

Hopefully it’s just a minor illness for the Spaniard, who will be sorely missed if he’s gone for too long.