Arsenal 3 Stoke City 1: Ozil has shown he’s a great player – Wenger

Arsene Wenger singled out Mesut Ozil for special praise after the playmaker had a hand in all three goals as Arsenal battled past Stoke City.

The in-form Aaron Ramsey gave Arsenal the lead in the fifth minute at Emirates Stadium when he fired home from close range after Asmir Begovic parried Ozil’s free-kick into his path.

However, the visitors drew level in the 26th minute when Geoff Cameron slotted in after Marko Arnautovic hit the post.

Arsenal went in front before the break again when Per Mertesacker nodded home Ozil’s corner, before Bacary Sagna sealed the three points with a header from a free-kick in the 72nd minute.

“He [Ozil] is a player, when you look at his numbers, the assists are not a coincidence, it’s just the reality of his game,” said Wenger after watching his side move top of the Premier League table.

“I believe that once he is completely integrated we’ll see even more of him but he has shown today that he is a great player.

“When you play against Stoke you don’t expect to score three goals from set-pieces and that is basically the biggest surprise to me today. It shows as well how important the delivery is.”

Wenger also believes that there is plenty more to come from club-record signing Ozil as he settles into life in England following his move from Real Madrid.

“You could see today he has a good pace as well. At the moment he focuses a lot on his passing but he can create individually as well,” Wenger added.