Arsenal: Mesut Ozil the marvellous setting new standards

Mesut Ozil was at his marvellous best in Arsenal’s 4-1 dismantling of CSKA Moscow on Thursday. The Arsenal midfielder might actually be setting new standards.

Arsenal, from an offensive standpoint, were excellent against CSKA Moscow on Thursday night. They scored four goals. They should have scored a whole lot more. And at heart of it all was a truly phenomenal performance from one Mesut Ozil.

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While it is Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette who will likely grab the headlines for their respective braces, it was Ozil who was the true creative instigator of this performance. He was at his absolute marvellous best.

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He recorded two brilliant assists, with a lovely, cute cross into Aaron Ramsey and an accurate, fizzed cut-back for Alexandre Lacazette’s second, amassed an incredible five key passes — they are passes that lead to shots or goals — and was felled for the penalty after a driving run from deep in midfield after a nice pass from Granit Xhaka and a one-two with Ramsey.

More than just the stats though, Ozil was a continual thorn in the CSKA side. He assisted Ramsey’s offside goal early on. He pierced the defence with an inside-out pass to Alex Iwobi, who decided to then pass the ball across the goal rather than shoot. He dangled a beautiful cross for Nacho Monreal at the far post, inswinging with his left foot, positioned perfectly on the Spaniard’s head.

Hector Bellerin, in his post-match interview, said it best:

"“Mesut is a player that is really hard to defend against for other teams and when he finds that space in the midfield, he outplays everyone there. We are very lucky to have him, of course.”"

Bellerin is right, the Gunners are ‘lucky’ to have him. And this might just be the best performance that I can recall him put in. This was Ozil at his absolute peak. And it climaxes a season that might just be his best yet since his 2013 signing. While his 19 assists in 2015/16 is a remarkable achievement, he did suffer huge dips in form that year, especially during the latter months. The same, at least not to that extent, cannot be said for this current campaign.

Of course, there have been fluctuations in form. That is natural for any footballer. But they have not been at the same disparity of previous years. Instead, Ozil has consistently put in the type of performances like the one against Moscow.

Next: Arsenal Vs CSKA Moscow: 5 things we learned

And that is a new level for him. He is setting himself a new standard. Now, he must keep to it.