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.

For Arsenal his emergence as talisman for an ever-improving team has taken time. He looked nowhere near as influential in his opening season after signing for €50m from Real Madrid and critics labelled him as a luxury player, lacking the passion or work ethic to make a big influence in England.

That certainly isn’t the case any more. He was given a standing ovation at the Emirates when replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and, together with a powerful performance from young Joel Campbell and yet another defiant display from Petr Cech, he was one of the biggest influences on a match that leaves Arsenal starting to believe this really could be their season.

It is not just the quality of Ozil but his consistency that gives fans hope. His 15 assists are more than Dennis Bergkamp ever achieved in an entire season and only five short of the Premier League record, held by Arsenal’s own Thierry Henry.

Arsene Wenger clearly saw it coming. It was as long ago as April 2014 when he promised: “He is a fantastic football player, and I would put him on the list to be player of the season next season.” It took a little longer than that for Wenger’s prophecy to come true but Ozil is certainly on course this time. He was one of the players who made the difference again against City, although he remains surprisingly modest in his assessment of statistics that are becoming the talk of world football.

“The truth is our forwards now convert my assists,” he said. “You have to put the numbers into perspective. I’ve also played a lot of good final passes in the last two seasons, but nobody converted them. This year, our attackers turn my assists into goals, and those assists appear in the stats.

“I’m happy to help the team, all my teammates help me to play my game. Today was an important game for us and I tried to do my best. The three points is the most important thing.”

Arsenal’s strikers certainly played their part to strengthen that belief as Walcott whipped home a curling shot that had all the hallmarks of Alexis Sanchez, while Giroud calmly fired across keeper Joe Hart to double the lead, taking full advantage of Ozil’s genius.

What Ozil cannot control of course is the nerves and errors that made this victory more tense and nerve-wracking than it should have been after Yaya Toure pulled a goal back; Arsenal’s defence will always creak a little. But he does symbolise a new Arsenal side that is finally learning how to perform in the big games , to be more ruthless when ‘six points’ are at stake and to find a way of holding out when they need to.

“We believe in ourselves,” said Ozil. “We have beaten big teams and if we play to our quality we believe we can win the league.”

Now only two points behind leaders Leicester, who have tough games coming up against Liverpool, City and Tottenham in the next four matches, Arsenal certainly look serious contenders.It doesn’t take a genuis to work out who Oziled them to get there...