How Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil became the master at giving others a chance

Mesut Ozil

Arsenal man has been an enigma – but now, due to a variety of reasons from his age to his team-mates, the numbers are adding up.

The remarkable thing about Mesut Özil’s brilliant season is that he is not even doing what Arsène Wenger asked of him.

Goals were what Wenger wanted from Özil this year. “He plays in the position, he is a good finisher, but he doesn’t take enough chances, and he is conscious of it,” Wenger said in July. “We want 10 goals per season from him.”

Özil agreed. “I want to score more goals than in the last two seasons, and that’s my aim for this season,” he said in August. “I need to become a bit more selfish.”

But he has scored just twice so far. Big goals, admittedly, in the home wins against Manchester United and Bayern Munich. But still just two, after three months of football and 15 starts. At this rate, he should finish the season with eight.

Özil has not changed his game much this year, only improved it. He has not become a different player, just become the best creative player in the country, and by a distance.

There has always been a debate about the measurability of what Özil does on the football pitch. During his quiet first two seasons at Arsenal, there was a theory that what he does – those deft touches and clever runs – was not always recorded by the conventional metrics of goals and assists. It was almost as if his ghostly style made him elusive not just to opponents but also to statisticians. That served to explain why this clearly talented £42.5m footballer could, more often than not, leave such a light footprint on matches.

This year, though, Özil’s brilliance has been very measurable indeed. While assists are important – only David Silva and Gerard Deulofeu average more per 90 minutes than him – they are an imperfect tool, as they leave the creator at the mercy of the striker’s finish. What matters more is chances created, and in those areas Özil is destroying the competition.

Özil is leading the Premier League for chances created per 90 minutes played, with 4.99, almost 20 per cent more than second-placed Dimitri Payet, according to Opta. For only chances created from open play, Özil is at 4.14, a nearly 40 per cent margin over Eden Hazard in second. On the creation of “big chances”, the gap is narrower, but Özil is still top, ahead of Riyad Mahrez and Deulofeu.

In terms of assists, chances created, and open play chances created, Özil is in the form of his life, launching himself comfortably beyond anything he has done at Arsenal so far and even beating his best numbers from Werder Bremen and Real Madrid. Clearly, his contribution was measurable all along. This year he is simply doing more.

Arsenal’s Mesut Özil reveals secret to his success in 2015: more sleep

 

Mesut Özil has said he is in no rush to renew his contract with Arsenal, which expires in 2018. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Mesut Özil has spoken about his successful year, saying that he has looked after “the small details”, such as having more sleep and more physiotherapy.

The Arsenal foward was again instrumental in the 2-1 win against Manchester City on Monday night as the Gunners closed the gap to Leicester to two points at the top of the table and has had arguably his best year in football. And this week he revealed the reasons behind him hitting top form, in a long interview with the German magazine Kicker.

“The biggest change started when I was injured last year and I changed my diet and started to look at the small details in my life,” the 27-year-old said. “For example I started to have physiotherapy on my days off and made sure I had a good sleep. That is crucial over here [in England]. It is the fastest league in the world and we often play twice a week with no winter break.

“I also missed football a lot when I was injured and I don’t want that to happen again,” Özil added. “That’s why I am doing everything I can to avoid it now. It is also the case that when you are playing well you get more confident. The team is more mature and more consistent this season and I get a lot of help on the pitch. It is only because of their help I can do my best.”

Özil has 15 assists already this season after registering another two against City and is only five away from equalling the Premier League record, set by Thierry Henry in 2002-03. He is in no rush, however, to enter contract talks with Arsenalwith two and a half years still left on his deal.

“My contract runs until 2018, that is for another two and a half years,” he said. “There is no need to hurry. There are no talks at the moment but I can only say that I am very happy in London and that my decision to come here from Real Madrid was the right one. There is not a single day, apart from when I was injured, that I have not felt great at Arsenal.”

Mesut Özil Biography

German midfielder Mesut Özil emerged as one of soccer's rising stars during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and his three years with Spanish club Real Madrid.

Synopsis

Mesut Özil was born on October 15, 1988, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. After beginning his professional soccer career with FC Schalke 04, he emerged as a star midfielder for SV Werder Bremen and the German national team during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Özil parlayed his international success into a prominent role with Real Madrid before announcing his transfer to England's Arsenal F.C. in 2013.

Early Life

Soccer player Mesut Özil was born on October 15, 1988, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The grandson of a Turkish immigrant, he developed his soccer skills alongside friends in the "Monkey Cage," a local pitch surrounded by fences. After playing for a series of smaller youth programs, he joined the pipeline of Gelsenkirchen's FC Schalke 04 in 2005.

Rising Star

Özil became a member of the Schalke senior team and the German junior national team in 2006, but despite his promising talents he was allowed to transfer to SV Werder Bremen in 2008. The midfielder flourished within his new club, with his impeccable ball-control skills and creative passing helping to lift Werder Bremen to victories in the 2009 DFB Cup and DFL Supercup.
International Acclaim

Özil starred for Germany during the 2009 U-21 European Championship, earning Man of the Match honors for his goal and two assists in a resounding 4-0 finals victory over England. His ascent continued after he was selected to the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, where he displayed his remarkable all-around abilities. Özil scored once and provided several assists to help Germany achieve a third-place finish, thus earning him a spot among the 10 nominees for the tournament's Golden Ball Award.

The performance transformed Özil from a promising talent to a bona fide star. He was hailed as the "multi-kulti kicker" in Germany, celebrated for being the first national team player from an immigrant background to enjoy such international success. He also drew increased attention from several top European clubs. After transferring to Spain's prestigious Real Madrid club in 2010, the midfielder teamed with scoring machine Cristiano Ronaldo to propel Real to a league title and victories in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup championships.

In September 2013, Özil made headlines with the announcement of his transfer to England's Arsenal F.C. The talented playmaker's presence was expected to quickly vault Arsenal back into the ranks of the European elite.

Mesut Özil on overdrive can be Arsenal's new Dennis Bergkamp

Arsenal have benefited from Mesut Özil’s rejuvenation within the side and his strong leadership qualities. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

One year ago, a debate about which players Arsenal might really depend on if the pressure was on would not often suggest Mesut Özil as an answer. At the time the club’s record signing, yet to overturn a general consensus that he was a luxury item, had been off the radar for a while. Having come back from the 2014 World Cup tired, he drifted through the first couple of months of the season, got injured and spent three months recovering. Last January he reappeared – not that many imagined he was about to step on to an upward curveso beguiling it may as well have been crafted with a brush of his left foot.

Arsenal’s near future title bid means more than history with Chelsea

Perceptions about Özil have been revised over the past year. Where his languid body language made critics carp, now it represents clever, elusive movement. Where opposing defenders sought to rough him up and squeeze him out of the game, now they know he is strong enough to handle it and slice them open. Where fans doubted he would be the protagonist in the biggest challenges, now they expect him to wave his wand.

Arsène Wenger, grateful to welcome Özil back into his team after skipping two out of the last three games (he took a breather for the FA Cup third round and rested his sore toe for last weekend’s trip to Stoke) gave an interesting insight into how the 27-year-old has become an unexpected leader in his own way at Arsenal. He will never be a shouty commander but on the pitch he is a technical leader and off it emits the kind of presence that ensures when he talks, everyone listens.

“He’s not an extrovert, as you know,” says Wenger, “but he’s demanding from his partners.” That description applied to Dennis Bergkamp, and the comparison made Wenger’s eyes light up. Bergkamp was a huge figure in the dressing room in his time. He could be an introvert but was also funny, sharp, observant, and spoke with piercing accuracy. “Yes, Özil is a bit like that,” adds Wenger. “He is not that guy who stands up and speaks too much but every time he says something it is just straight to the point.” The manager snaps his fingers for emphasis.

Going back to Bergkamp, there is the story of Tony Adams feeling a compulsion to say a few strong words to the Dutchman when he saw him sitting quietly on the team bus after an FA Cup fourth-round match at Middlesbrough in January 1998. “You’ve been here two and a half years now, Dennis, isn’t it about time you won something?” Adams asked. “It would be a shame not to, with your ability.”

Come the summer of 1998, Bergkamp had inspired Arsenaltowards the double and was voted Footballer of the Year. Adams’ point was that he wanted to push Bergkamp, to elevate his performances so that they had substance as well as style. Do the damage. Make the difference.

Özil appears to have had his own eureka moment. As well as being more robust, the consequence of extra work at the gym to bulk up during that post-World Cup lay-off, these days he carries himself with more swagger. He now wants to do the damage. Make the difference. “I am super happy with the No10 position and I will confirm that trust,” Özil pledged on this season’s eve. So far he has been true to his word.

When he was shunted out of Real Madrid in 2013 as they sought to raise funds to buy Gareth Bale, maybe it is understandable if he saw the move to Arsenal as a step down, something that would be easy. To thrive, he needed to reboot himself. Arsenal’s Özil 2.0 plays with heightened levels of responsibility and determination. If he had been without Alexis Sánchez and Santi Cazorla for several weeks a year ago to share the creative energy, would he have been able to pull the team along as he has recently? Apart from the 4-0 blip at Southampton on Boxing Day, Arsenal have coped quite well in this phase without Sánchez, Cazorla and the supporting act Francis Coquelin.

This hardened spirit is what Wenger wants over the weeks ahead as Arsenal try to push on in the title race. He has guided teams over the line, and others that fell short. The ability “to keep our fighting spirit and togetherness” is what he believes makes the difference.

“The qualities that have come out of our team until now are essentially mental. To keep that spirit will certainly be vital for us because every game is very tight. Sometimes before, we had a team that had a margin of security. What has changed now in the Premier League is that every game is a massive fight.

“Spirit is a bit like the weather in England. It can change very quickly. And we have to take care of that. It is something that is very fragile, to maintain that under pressure, disappointments, injuries. That is our task. That’s why all the older players have this kind of responsibility to take care of our unity.”

Cesc Fàbregas can take the flak from Arsenal supporters, says Guus Hiddink

Wenger is looking to his experienced men for that. The knowhow of Petr Cech, Per Mertesacker, Sánchez and Özil, who have all won major honours, will be leaned on.

Although Arsenal might have ideally wanted more points from their last two away games at Liverpool and Stoke, keeping their momentum going while missing key players sets them up for the visit of Chelsea, the first in a sequence of four home games from five before the sudden change of pace that will come with the Champions League visit of Barcelona.

Wenger believes his team have become stronger, perhaps a little wiser, since they last met Chelsea. That defeat in September rankled because of the ugly episode involving Gabriel and Diego Costa, on which the game hinged.

The Arsenal manager agrees that his team needed to show a bit more spite to cope with the toughest contests. “I believe we have shown since that game that we can do it, we can face big fights,” he says. “We have improved on that front. We have to combine the fighting spirit with a relaxed attitude and a controlled attitude. We have to be controlled. Discipline is very important in big games.”

Would he go so far as to ask his players to perform on the edge that Costa treads? “I don’t know,” he ponders. “It’s difficult for me to talk too much about Chelsea. We can master and control our own behaviour. What is important is that we focus on us. Experience helps but what will help more than anything is the quality of our performances. Sunday is a big one for us on that front.”

The onus is on the big talents to lead the way.

Mesut Özil is soccer's best playmaker, aesthetically and statistically

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Some great seasons can't be captured by the statistics, but this one can.

Everybody wants to be the number 10. The player that fans can point to and say, "Sure the goal was nice, but his pass made it happen," or "her movement in transition is why we had a breakaway in the first place." Few attackers in world football get to live that dream as clearly and fully as Mesut Özil. He has a relatively free role in the Arsenal system, and his passing and movement consistently show he deserves that space, as Özil can create goals from situations where few players could even contribute to a shot.

The romantic number 10 is a figure of some mystery, a player whose actions exceed not only expectation but perhaps measurement as well. There are in football indeed many things that are difficult or nigh-impossible to statistically evaluate using existing tools. And as such, much has been written about what is unquantifiable or even ineffable about Özil's game. However, his contributions this year have been anything but.

As injuries have ravaged Arsenal, Özil has been the driving force behind their 3-1-0 record during the injury crisis, regularly creating big chances and running goal-scoring moves.The German playmaker is not only driving Arsenal's attack, but he is doing so in ways that fill up the scoresheet.
The Quantifiable Brilliance of Mesut Özil

The top line numbers can hardly be denied. Özil has 13 assists to lead the Premier League. In fact, he leads all players in the big four European leagues in this category, with Raffael of Borussia Mönchengladbach far behind in second with just eight assists. Furthermore, since the 2010-2011 season only four other times has a player assisted 10 or more goals through the first 16 matches of a season, and all four of them played for either Barcelona or Real Madrid. So they all had a little more help than Özil with elite forwards finishing on the end of their chances. (The four players were Ángel Di María, Lionel Messi and twice Cesc Fábregas.)

Of course, assists can mislead. A player might get lucky a few times that he happened to make the pass before his teammate took an incredible shot. To be confident that a player with big assist numbers is in fact pulling the strings requires a bit more statistical evidence.

And in every category, Özil stands out yet again. He has assisted 65 shot attempts. This is the most in the Premier League this season. It is the highest number of shot assists in the first 16 matches of the season in any of the big four European Leagues since 2010-2011. Borussia Dortmund's Nuri Sahin from the title-winning side of 2010-2011 comes closest with 61 shot assists through 16 matches.

Statistics that evaluate chance quality perhaps rate Özil even more highly. He has assisted 16 big chances with passes that played a teammate into a one-on-one with the keeper or similar situations where a goal is likely to be scored. The only players to equal this number are Fábregas at Barcelona and this year, Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Dortmund. By expected assists, a statistical measure of the quality of chances created, Özil's 9.5 xA are most of any player since 2010-2011. Mkhitaryan and Fábregas again are the only others with more than nine xA through 16 league matches.

It all adds up to a very impressive picture. Across a variety of key statistical indicators, not only is Özil contributing at an impressive rate, but in fact no one in the top four European leagues has quite matched his creative output in any of the last five seasons.

No one in the top leagues, over the last several years, has directly produced chances like Mesut Özil this season. It has been an exceptional run.
Can Arsenal count on Özil to keep this up?

Certainly no one expects him to nosedive. With 62 assists, 58 expected assists and 72 big chances created over the last several seasons, Özil has a clear track record. But even a great player can run hot. Fábregas tailed off significantly after putting up dominant numbers early in 2013-2014, as he added only five assists and 3.8 xA over Barcelona's remaining league matches. Overall, the players who put up the biggest assist numbers early in the season did trail off in the second half.

The following chart takes the players with the 30 best early-season records in assists, expected assists and big chances created, and then compares their production in the first 16 matches of the season with their production in the final 22 matches (or 18 for Bundesliga players). Assist numbers tend to drop off the most, demonstrating the noise inherent in this statistic. Expected assists are the most sustainable, while big chances created fall in between.

For his career, Özil has averaged about 0.45 expected assists per 90 minutes played, adding up to about an assist every other match, since Özil's assists and expected assists basically track one another overall. This year he's running at 0.65 xA/90 (minutes), meaning about two assists every three matches, and he has in fact assisted at a rate of nearly a goal per match. It seems likely that Özil will drop back toward his typical (still excellent!) rates over the remainder of the season.

A moderate downturn in form is likely, but far from guaranteed. Among players who light up the charts above, Wolfsburg's Kevin de Bruyne stands out for how his big early season numbers last year (nine assists, 8 xA) only portended continued brilliance (another 11 assists and 9.6 xA) down the stretch. If Özil can maintain this form like De Bruyne, rather than falling off as Fábregas did, he has the potential for a statistically historic season. Perhaps more importantly, those extra goals could be the difference between an Arsenal title run and another low-drama top four finish.

What Özil can do on a football pitch is undeniable. This season, and in particular in crunch time over the last few weeks, Arsenal's playmaker has consistently leveraged these ridiculous skills into football results. Of course, great numbers for Özil are not exactly new. Those excellent career statistics show that Özil has never been the purely unquantifiable genius his most romantic fans might wish to conjure. But this year, in a situation where his skills have been needed most, Özil has been directly producing goals not just with flair but in historic numbers.

How Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil became the master at giving others a chance

Arsenal man has been an enigma – but now, due to a variety of reasons from his age to his team-mates, the numbers are adding up

Mesut Ozil

The remarkable thing about Mesut Özil’s brilliant season is that he is not even doing what Arsène Wenger asked of him.

Goals were what Wenger wanted from Özil this year. “He plays in the position, he is a good finisher, but he doesn’t take enough chances, and he is conscious of it,” Wenger said in July. “We want 10 goals per season from him.”

Özil agreed. “I want to score more goals than in the last two seasons, and that’s my aim for this season,” he said in August. “I need to become a bit more selfish.”

But he has scored just twice so far. Big goals, admittedly, in the home wins against Manchester United and Bayern Munich. But still just two, after three months of football and 15 starts. At this rate, he should finish the season with eight.

Özil has not changed his game much this year, only improved it. He has not become a different player, just become the best creative player in the country, and by a distance.

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There has always been a debate about the measurability of what Özil does on the football pitch. During his quiet first two seasons at Arsenal, there was a theory that what he does – those deft touches and clever runs – was not always recorded by the conventional metrics of goals and assists. It was almost as if his ghostly style made him elusive not just to opponents but also to statisticians. That served to explain why this clearly talented £42.5m footballer could, more often than not, leave such a light footprint on matches.

This year, though, Özil’s brilliance has been very measurable indeed. While assists are important – only David Silva and Gerard Deulofeu average more per 90 minutes than him – they are an imperfect tool, as they leave the creator at the mercy of the striker’s finish. What matters more is chances created, and in those areas Özil is destroying the competition.

Özil is leading the Premier League for chances created per 90 minutes played, with 4.99, almost 20 per cent more than second-placed Dimitri Payet, according to Opta. For only chances created from open play, Özil is at 4.14, a nearly 40 per cent margin over Eden Hazard in second. On the creation of “big chances”, the gap is narrower, but Özil is still top, ahead of Riyad Mahrez and Deulofeu.

In terms of assists, chances created, and open play chances created, Özil is in the form of his life, launching himself comfortably beyond anything he has done at Arsenal so far and even beating his best numbers from Werder Bremen and Real Madrid. Clearly, his contribution was measurable all along. This year he is simply doing more.

Premier League Power Rankings: Week 12

Arsenal’s title challenge – looking to be their most serious since 2007-08 at the least – has been built on Özil’s creative brain. Arsenal are recording more shots per game – 19.2 – than any other side has since this particular record began. And Özil, more than anyone else, is responsible for this.

All of Arsenal’s best goals this season have come from the delicate incisions of Özil’s boots. There was the delightfully floated cross to Olivier Giroud against Crystal Palace, a similar one against Everton, an arced long ball to Theo Walcott against Stoke, and a sweet little lob over the Leicester defence to Alexis Sanchez.

It has certainly helped that Özil has been playing in an Arsenal team full of forward runners –Sanchez, Walcott and Aaron Ramsey – who have given him options and created space for Özil to use. Last Saturday, at Swansea City, there was no Walcott, Ramsey or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but Özil was still brilliant, making Giroud’s goal with a corner kick and Joel Campbell’s with yet another perfect pass.

There are not many £42m players who are happier assisting than scoring, in supporting rather than lead roles, but this is what makes Özil so special. This is why Wenger can berate him for his selflessness, even when he is playing this well. “I think, deeply, he is a very, very collective player,” Wenger explained two weeks ago. “If you tell him to do that, he will do it for you. His talent is exceptional, fantastic. He sacrifices himself for the team. Sometimes he releases the ball when you want him to, sometimes he will do it when you don’t want him to do it.”

This unique selflessness is why Özil was so popular even among the politics and the cliques of Real Madrid. Soon after arriving there from Werder Bremen, Özil was thought by the rest of the squad to be the most technically proficient, able to do things nobody else could, and with the crucial ability to make his team-mates look better.

But if that technical ability and tactical intelligence have always been there, what has changed this year? Why have his numbers jumped so dramatically? The answer lies in the part of football that cannot be measured or recorded. If there was one legitimate criticism of Özil’s first two years at Arsenal it is that he did not take enough responsibility, compared with a player like David Silva.

This year, though, Özil has realised that he was the only man who could unlock his talent. The young man who once famously invited police officers into his private box at the Emirates after being involved in a Porsche collision, has grown up. “London transforms people,” Wenger said in July. “At the start, people feel a bit of a shock, but after a while, London slowly gets people under the charm of the city. I have seen that many times.”

Wenger’s theory is that as soon as Özil turned 27, as he did earlier this season, he realised that he has to take charge.

“He is 27 now,” Wenger explained last month. “It is the golden age of a football player, 27 to 31 or 32. When you know your job, you realise suddenly that it is not only important to play, it is important to win as well. Once you get to 27 you realise it is time to capitalise on what you have learnt, and efficiency takes over.”

In Mesut Özil, Arsenal have a footballer who can deliver us the Premier League title.

Hopefully, I have your attention now, yes? Good.

That’s how good I think Mesut Özil (or Ozzul, that well known demon from the Exorcist if you prefer the Carragher variation) is. Up until recently, it has felt as though I have been in a small minority of Arsenal fans who have been watching the German and understanding what he brings to the team. For the rest, the German’s über efficient style has not quite been to their taste. Not whilst they have been watching Alexis careening around the pitch like a bumblebee on speed, sometimes running into defenders, sometimes spanking one from distance into the top corner. Or, low into the near one.

You’ve all heard and maybe even shared the criticisms. Too lazy, looks like he doesn’t care. I have heard, in the last few months, the following:

“Needs to man up a bit.”

“For some reason Özil lacks the confidence and doesn’t want to take on the responsibility despite the fact he’s undoubtedly got the skills (to shoot at goal).”

“It’s like playing with ten players when he’s on the pitch.”

Two of these criticisms in particular highlight the fact that people watch Mesut and, quite simply, don’t think he’s trying. Never mind the fact that Özil routinely finishes matches having run further than most of his team mates, with the probable exception of Aaron Ramsey.

When I think of this criticism, I always think of Johan Cruyff’s comment that if you have to run to make a tackle, you were almost certainly in the wrong position to begin with. To be clear, though I may sound in danger of contradicting myself here, I think the fact that you rarely see Özil bombing around like the aforementioned bumblebee on speed means that the German is more often than not exactly where he is supposed to be. At the hub of our attack.

Interestingly, the middle criticism, made by my uncle, that Mesut is not too fond of shooting would appear to be backed up by data I found on Squawka. Excluding blocked shots, Özil’s shooting numbers are not great, with 16 shots on goal his total for the season. Theo Walcott, with 28, Alexis with 33, Ramsey with 30 and Olivier Giroud with 46 have all taken far more shots than our midfield maestro. Yet…

And yet, Mesut Özil’s shooting accuracy, 63% (10/16), is better than any of his teammates. Okay, in Theo’s case (61%), it is only just better, but still. To me, this speaks to the fact that Mesut Özil will shoot only when he has absolutely determined that he is in the right position to do so. Not just because he has no other option, like Alexis (55%, if you’re interested) or is feeling lucky (Aaron Ramsey – 53%). Olivier Giroud’s 50% shooting accuracy is, necessarily, another story for another time.

This is further borne out, I think, by the number of chances Mesut has created when compared to the rest of his colleagues. We all know about Mesut’s 16 assists this season. This is not some kind of statistical anomaly. The man has created 83 goalscoring chances for the rest of the team. These numbers are so high that it’s not even really worth talking about who comes second to him, as it happens, Santi Cazorla. Between Cazorla, Alexis, Ramsey, Walcott and Giroud, they have created 106 chances. This leads me to the thought that, perhaps if these guys were more like Özil they might create more chances for the team – and have much better shooting accuracy.

You know, like when Mesut sold the Aston Villa defence down the Birmingham canal and gave Aaron Ramsey a tap in? Yes, that.

It seems to me that the tide has now turned decisively in Özil’s favour, particularly with the Arsenal fans. It is almost as though Mesut has been putting together the largest of jigsaw puzzles for months and it is only now that people are starting to see the picture emerging. But that’s how Özil plays the game, I suppose.

It’s also the side effect of playing in an Arsenal side shorn of two, or three key players (depending on how you see Coquelin) and guiding them to the top of table. It’s the side effect of making constant, match winning contributions, of making the difference in big games – as he has against both Manchester clubs this season. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Arsène was talking up Mesut’s leadership qualities after the draw v Spurs. In that game, it was his efforts, his brilliance that rescued a point for us. Much as I have always loved Mesut, I’m not sure he would have dragged that game out of the fire for us two seasons back.

Now though, his form is such that he has been voted Arsenal’s player of the month three months in a row. Here at Daily Cannon Towers, although a lone voice may cry out “Petr Cech!”, the player of the month debate we used to have is no longer a debate. The man’s brilliance just obliterates all competition.

It’s been a big month for fans of a certain science fiction franchise, I imagine that the same people who went to see The Force Awakens and came away nitpicking are exactly the same kind of people who can find nothing to love in our German maestro. However, it is another sci-fi franchise springing to mind when I think of Mesut Özil. Or more to the point, a sci-fi character.

Yes, like Bullet Time Neo, I believe Mesut Özil is just realising, and reaching, the height of his powers. He is seeing things happen before they do, he sees things that nobody else does. I believe he is the One. The One to deliver us the Premier League title. Although that does see Arsène Wenger cast as Morpheus, with Alexis playing Trinity, Robin van Judas as Cypher (haha) and Mourinho as Agent Smith (too much?).

Somewhere in Europe, Anita Sambol is breathing a sigh of relief I didn’t ask her to create such a Photoshop job…

Anyway, it seems fairly obvious to me that as long as we can keep Neo, sorry, Mesut fit, then we’re going to be right in with a shout of bringing the Premier League title home this May. And if we do that…

Well, apparently, some of you will still be calling Arsène Wenger the wrong man for the job – and worse. I’m not going to go on about it, but surely the Premier League is the ultimate test for any manager in the, er, Premier League? If you win that, how the hell can you be the wrong man for the job? Think about it…

This weekend sees the quest for a hat trick of FA Cup wins begin (not bad for a club who don’t take the competition seriously) at home to Sunderland, before a midweek trip to Anfield. It’s going to be a fun old week!