Arsenal: Easiest part out of the way for ‘warrior’ Mesut Ozil

Arsenal witnessed an absolute masterclass from Mesut Ozil, but that bit was the easy part, now the difficulty kicks in going forward.

I never took Mesut Ozil as someone who would hear criticism and then silence his critics at the next possible opportunity. But that is exactly what he did as he put in an absolutely sublime shift for Arsenal against Everton.

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In the first half alone, Ozil nabbed six chances created, raising that to a Premier League season-record eight by the end of the match. He also nodded home a goal and snagged an assist in what had to be one of his best ever performances in an Arsenal kit.

He proved all of his critics wrong, including myself, in showing that there is still some fight in him. Of course, I do believe that in his ongoing battle with his current situation, this bit was the easy part.

All Ozil did against Everton was be himself. This type of performance is exactly what we all knew he was capable of. It’s available for viewing over the past five years, performances like this. When you are this good at football, it just comes naturally.

The hard part is going to be following this up. It may sound silly, but now that he has shown us, or rather reminded us, what he is capable of, the trick is going to be consistency. Which is always the trick, especially for someone like Ozil, who is very dependent on those around him.

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Surrounded by superstars in Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette and plenty of quality from Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka, Ozil was in his element and he was sublime. His effort levels were right at what we’ve expected of him since his arrival in England and it was also a big match in every sense, and he stepped up.

Swansea is next up on the billing for Ozil, which is another match that we need to see similar results from. Maybe asking for another eight chances is too much (is it though?) but that is his bag – creation. So consistent creation numbers are a prerequisite. It’s all the other stuff that we saw today that stands out – the effort, the hustle, the runs off the ball.

Those are the things that put Mesut Ozil at his best. On his goal, he read the situation. He saw Lacazette pulling the defender away and he knew Ramsey was in behind him occupying another, which meant that the German maestro had a free run, which he took advantage of.

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After that comes Manchester City at the Etihad. A match that I don’t need to overstate the importance of. But if we can get out of Ozil then what we got out of him at Goodison, then at the very least we can match the firepower of that City attack.