Theo Walcott: People don’t realise this about Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil

Theo Walcott was full of praise for Mesut Ozil after the Germany playmaker set up both of Arsenal’s goals in Monday night’s 2-1 win over Manchester City.

Ozil continued his sparkling recent form by notching up another two Premier League assists to take his tally for the season to 15.

It’s a team game but you need these players in your team

Theo Walcott

And England international Walcott believes that Ozil, who was named man of the match, does not get the credit he deserves for the hard work he does for Arsene Wenger’s men.

Speaking to Sky Sports alongside Ozil after the game, Walcott said: “The amount he gives to this team, the threat going forward and also defensively, he puts a shift in and people don’t see that side of the game which has changed in the whole squad.”

He continued: “He’s very modest. The thing about Mesut is that he sees things that most players don’t even see on the pitch. He knows what he’s going to do before he does it, you just have to make that run.

“We’ve got special players on the pitch who provide special moments in the match, and that makes our jobs so much easier.

“It’s a team game but you need these players in your team if you want to continue to play as well as we are at the moment.”

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Walcott fired the home side into the lead in the 33rd minute with a superb low shot into the bottom corner.

Olivier Giroud then doubled Arsenal’s lead on the stroke of half-time when he slotted his finish between Joe Hart’s legs.

Yaya Toure pulled one back for the visitors with eight minutes left with a superb shot into the top corner to set up a tense finale.

But Arsenal held on to move four points clear of Manuel Pellegrini’s men in the table.