Arsenal: Ingredients of a Ramsey goal spurt - revealed

Aaron Ramsey appears to be at his best when Olivier Giroud is playing and Jack Wilshere is absent

Aaron Ramsey has started scoring again, but what has changed to trigger that improvement?

The dual shock of Lukas Podolski both starting an Arsenal game and reacting to that rare opportunity with two goals was the most eye-catching element of a 4-1 Champions League victory at Galatasaray which restored some calm after the chaos which followed the 2-3 defeat at Stoke.

However, Aaron Ramsey's brace was as significant, indicating a return to scoring form for a player whose goals were so important to the club last season. The Welsh midfielder netted 16 times in 2013/14, including the trophy drought-destroying extra-time winner in the FA Cup final against Hull.

"Rambo" hasn't struck as consistently this term, a promising opening in which he fired three times in four appearances making way for a 15-match goalless streak.

A double in Turkey three days on from ending that sequence at the Britannia Stadium suggests that he is back in business, but we want to find a pattern to explain why he went so long without scoring having been so prolific either side of that barren spell.

The most intriguing trend is that Ramsey has notched 11 times in either the Premier League or Champions League since last November and a massive ten of those were grabbed when Jack Wilshere wasn't on the pitch.

Adding further substance to the theory that the 23-year-old is far more effective when the England international is absent, they started together in two of the August fixtures that he scored in - against Crystal Palace and Everton - but he waited until after Wilshere's 69th and 74th-minute removals to pounce.

This latest Ramsey boom has of course occurred since his midfield partner suffered an ankle injury in the 1-2 loss to Man United last month, a setback that some have speculated will sideline him until March.

Though he thrived without him in Istanbul, Ramsey will be thrilled to have Olivier Giroud back too. The French forward assisted him more than he did any other player in the 2013/14 Premier League and it was after his arrival off the bench that Ramsey bagged against Palace and Everton this season.

With the Ramsey-Giroud axis likely to be in operation against Newcastle at Saturday teatime, with no Wilshere to intrude, the midfielder rates a tempting bet to net at any time at 3.211/5.