The accusation that Mesut Ozil is a bit of a luxury player for Arsenal has been heard ever since the German signed for the Gunners over two years ago and there has been evidence to back up the claim.
Ozil was a bit lightweight when he first came to the Premier League and was too easily muscled off the ball. He put in plenty of hours in the gym though and while not exactly looking like a rugby player, he now has better upper body strength and is winning more 50-50s.
They also said that he was lazy and that he did not turn up in big games or was too inconsistent. Maybe that was true before but the stats show that it is definitely not the case this season. In one Metro report the stats show that Ozil covers more ground than players like Willian, Coutinho, Toure, Oscar and Emre Can, all of whom have reputations for being tireless workers.
In fact the only players on the list that have run further this season are Santi Cazorla, Ross Barkley, Memphis Depay and Eden Hazard but they have all played more minutes than the Arsenal creative star, and when you break the figures down, not one player ran more than Ozil over a 90 minute average.
Add to this that Ozil is also joint top of the EPL assist chart with David Silva after bagging another couple as we beat Watford ,and you can see that rather than being a luxury player, the Germany international is now a vital and influential member of the team. What more do people want from him?