Chris Hatherall: Mesut Ozil’s genius taking classy Arsenal to another level

Mesut Ozil has become so synonymous with providing assists that Twitter followers suggested last night — after he provided two more in a potentially pivotal victory over Manchester City — that his surname should be included in the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb, as in: can I Ozil you in any way?

Actually, the Twittersphere described it as a noun but let’s not concentrate too much on the harm social media is doing to the standard of modern grammar; what is important is that Ozil has become so influential for Arsenal that his performances are taking the team to another level and possibly towards a Premier League title.

His two assists against City, the first a clever pass to pick out Theo Walcott and the second a balletic pirouette to put Oliver Giroud through on goal, took him to 15 for the season in 16 games. When you consider he has also contributed four goals and created on average 4.3 chances for team-mates per match then he importance in the title race cannot be over-estimated.