Arsenal: If Mesut Ozil adds goals, then watch out

Mesut Ozil has now scored three goals in his last four appearances for Arsenal. If he can add goals to his game, it will provide a whole new dimension to him and the team.

There have been many criticisms of Mesut Ozil throughout his career. He doesn’t show up in the big games. He’s lazy. He doesn’t track back and undertake his defensive duties. He doesn’t care. And he doesn’t score enough goals for a player of his talent and position. Some are more applicable than others, but there is an element to truth to all of these slights on the Arsenal midfielder.

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But there is a distinction between many of the criticisms made about the German and his lack of goals. His presumed failure to score is a technical and tactical problem. It is him not producing at the expected level. All of the other questions that are asked of him relate to his mentality — his work-rate, his resilience, his will to win, his ability to perform when it matters most.

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In fact, his lack of goals might be the only technical weakness in his game, such is his overall skill set and quality. But it has been an issue throughout his time in north London. In five full seasons, he has only scored 27 Premier League goals. It’s hardly a staggering amount for a player of his ability, and given the fact that he regularly plays in advanced midfield positions.

Across those five seasons, Ozil has played 12,071 minutes. That yields a goal every 447.07 minutes. It’s not a very impressive rate whatsoever. To put that into context, last season, Kevin de Bruyne scored a goal every 383.1 minutes and Christian Eriksen scored a goal every 322.6 minutes, substantially quicker scoring rates than Ozil’s.

But recently, Ozil has shown a far greater nose for goal — take these upcoming statistics with a significant grain of salt as they come from an incredibly small sample size. In 512 Premier League minutes this season, he has already scored twice, the latter of which sealed Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford. That yields a goal every 256 minutes.

More specifically than that, however, in his last four matches in all competitions, in which he has played 303 minutes, he has scored three times, a goal every 101 minutes, a rate that suddenly rivals the very best goalscorers in the world — Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, for comparison’s sake, scored a Premier League goal every 105.8 minutes last season.

Now, as stated, this is a very small sample size and the numbers are obviously skewed massively by that. There is no way that Ozil will continue by scoring a goal every 101 minutes. But if he can score a goal every, say, 300 minutes, rather this Premier League career mark of 447.07, then, suddenly, not only does he revolutionise his game but he would revitalise an Arsenal attack that already boasts two of the best goalscorers in the world.

Ozil is not necessarily playing at his best yet. He still hasn’t registered an assist, which is remarkable at this stage in the season. But he has discovered a way to consistently find the back of the net in spite of his not playing his best, and that is an absolute game-changer.