Mesut Ozil Should Be In Control – Brewin

Arsene Wenger’s description of Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil as “a musician who always plays the right note, and at the right moment” is not a new riff. Back in September 2014, the manager made a similar remark about his record-high £42.5 million signing.

“He’s like a guy who plays the music,” the Arsenal manager said back then. “The timing of what he does is perfect, and you don’t get many players like that.”

For Arsenal and Wenger, who revealed his great admiration for reggae legend Bob Marley last week, Ozil has not been the chart-topping superstar that many thought he could be when he arrived at the club in September 2013.

Alexis Sanchez is the true fans’ favourite, as evidenced by the huge numbers of Gunners who voted for the Chilean to win the Football Supporters’ Federation player of the year award on Monday. Ozil is appreciated — indeed his honour is guarded jealously by Gunners fans who similarly loved Dennis Bergkamp for his aesthetic grace — but Sanchez is lionised in the same way as legends like Ian Wright and Thierry Henry, players whose output was more obvious.

Yet in the absence of the injured Sanchez, whose body finally gave way to a gruelling schedule when he suffered a hamstring injury at Norwich a fortnight ago, Ozil has assumed centre-stage. Olivier Giroud grabbed headlines against Sunderland and Olympiakos, first scoring at either end in a 3-1 win and then netting a hat trick in the 3-0 win that sealed Arsenal’s place in the last 16 of the Champions League, but without Ozil, Wenger may have been contemplating life in the Europa League and outside the Premier League’s top four.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce had his team defending in heavy numbers and mounting quick counter-attacks before it was Ozil who broke the deadlock with a visionary, jabbed pass that bisected two Sunderland defenders and put Joel Campbell through to score.

Allardyce had no answer to Ozil’s movement and even Yann M’Vila, playing ahead of Sunderland’s five-man defence, could not stem the flow of chances which eventually forced Arsenal’s win, and a climb into second place.