Arsene Wenger has been talking about his two main men of the moment in the build up to Arsenal’s trip to face Norwich City in the Premier League this weekend, and while there are some doubts about whether our Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez will be fit enough to play, after what the boss described as a ‘hamstring alert’ there is no doubt about who will be pulling the strings for Arsenal in the middle.
Mesut Ozil has really upped his game for us this season, although to be fair he also had a very good second half of the previous one, and the most significant part of his game now is the end product that has been added to his silky skills, movement and all round play.
As reported on the Arsenal website, the boss said that this has come about with a change of Ozil’s focus that has seen the German a lot more determined to get into the box and get among the goals, whether by scoring them himself or providing an assist for one of the other Gunners.
Wenger said, “What is interesting about Mesut’s game is that he is not only a provider now, he likes to get on the end of the things. What he has added to his game is the runs into the box.
“He played before like he was not too much obsessed [by goals] and more by providing, and I think he has a much better balance in his game now, giving, assisting and scoring.
“At the start, in the first season, there was a lot of scepticism around him. I think the quality of his performances have turned opinions. He now has the support of everybody who loves Arsenal.
“You look at the players who give our assists and you will see who does it. I think the best assist player at the moment is Ozil, but we have many providers.
“We have Alexis, Ramsey, Cazorla – they are all people who can create chances. You could see Campbell the other night has given a great assist to Alexis. I think all our players have technical ability to do that.”
Maybe they do but it is the Germany international play maker who has scored or assisted nine goals in his last 11 matches in all competitions, setting a new Premier League assist record at the same time, so he will be trying to make it 10 at Carrow Road on Sunday.
You would not bet against him, but will it be his name on the score sheet or will Ozil add to his growing reputation as king of the assist?