Arsenal: 3 players Mikel Arteta needs to step up

2. Mesut Ozil

Mikel Arteta has built his slanted 4-2-3-1 shape around Mesut Ozil. The German is afforded in a free-roaming role in the heart of the midfield, tasked with conducting play and creating chances. But thus far, Ozil has only done one of those jobs.

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His work-rate has increased. He is more diligent without the ball and more intense in his pressing. And his play in deeper areas is neat and tidy, often the primary outlet to progress the play from deep areas and into more advanced areas. But that cutting-edge quality in the final third that used to distance himself from mere mortal footballers has not been present.

His last league assist away from home came on January 30th 2018. The reason why that date is significant? He signed his bumper new deal the day after. He has played 1,188 Premier League minutes. He has no goals and one assist. In all competitions, he has only two assists.

Some of these statistics are a little skewed because of the misses of his teammates — his chance creation numbers are better, but still not nearly at the same level as previous years. Ozil is not producing as Arteta requires.