MAN OF THE WEEK
MESUT OZIL
FORGET about the opposition, just marvel at the goal he scored against Ludogorets to complete Arsenal’s stunning comeback. People will ask ‘who was it against?’ and say the Ludogorets goalkeeper, Milan Borjan, was ‘Sunday League standard’. Well, even if he was Sunday League standard, to lob a keeper and pass the ball to yourself is a stunning piece of skill, but Ozil was not done. To then have the composure to let two defenders fly in on him — most defenders in the world would have done exactly the same to protect an open goal — but take another touch before rolling a shot in was magnificent. It was a moment befitting a £42.5million player. That was Ozil’s seventh goal of the season, a significant improvement compared to this stage 12 months ago, when he had just two. He’s firmly on course to record his best tally for Arsenal, as his three previous totals were eight (2013-14), five (2014-15) and eight (2015-16). Ozil has received praise for the amount of assists he has contributed since he has been in the Premier League but what really puts a player in the spotlight is goals. If Arsenal are going to get to where Arsene Wenger wants them to be, Ozil will have to maintain his frequency. There could be no better place to keep up his record than against Tottenham. Ozil has scored in a North London derby before, in February 2015, but Arsenal lost that match 2-1. How Wenger could do with Ozil helping to reverse that result tomorrow.