Arsenal's Mesut Ozil Is Defying His Critics by Producing When It Counts

A year or so ago, describing Mesut Ozil as “effortless” would have been interpreted as a stinging criticism of his hangdog demeanour. However, there is no better adjective for the languid manner in which he took Everton apart in Arsenal’s last Premier League match.

Ozil is gliding around the pitch with both grace and purpose, and Arsenal are reaping the benefits with the tangible reward of goals and assists.

Prior to the Everton game, there had been a suspicion that Ozil’s upturn in form was largely associated with the presence of Theo Walcott in the starting XI. His speedy style was seemingly a better fit for the German’s playmaking abilities.

However, with the England international rotated out in favour of Olivier Giroud, Ozil was still at his mercurial best. Regardless of who is deployed at centre-forward, the current version of Ozil is irrepressible.

Boris Streubel/Getty Images

After the match, Arsene Wenger couldn’t help but eulogise about his record signing, as noted on Arsenal's website:

"

He is a top-class player, honestly. I think rather than talking about him I would rather watch him play again. If you love to watch football, you love to watch Ozil.

It is a combination of quality of the touch, intelligence and team attitude. He is a real team player, I said that yesterday in the press conference. He puts his talent at the service of the team and he wants to help the team with everything he does. That makes him efficient.

"

It’s his vision that makes him so extraordinary. Ozil sees things that others don’t. Against Everton, he drew gasps of admiration from the Emirates crowd when he played a 30 yard reverse pass that almost allowed Alexis Sanchez to skip beyond the entire Toffees defence. Such moments of inimitable imagination are commonplace for Ozil.

Take his assist for Olivier Giroud’s goal. When he had the ball on the right-hand side, there was seemingly little danger. However, he skipped infield and played a perfectly floated pass into the unoccupied space between Everton’s defence and goalkeeper. When Giroud timed his run to perfection, all he had to do was touch his head on the ball to send it looping over Tim Howard and into the net.

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Giroud scored the goal, but it was undoubtedly Ozil who made it. That means that he has now scored two goals and assisted a further four in Arsenal’s last five games.

It’s surely no coincidence that Arsenal’s best run of the season—a surge that has taken them to the top of the Premier League table—has coincided with Ozil’s best sequence in a Gunners shirt.

These contributions have come in big games, too. Ozil has played crucial roles in wins against Manchester United and Bayern Munich, and during the Everton game, he seemed unbowed by the pressure of potentially taking Arsenal to the top of the league.

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Mesut Ozil has the best games/assist ratio in Premier League history! Average one every 2.71 matches... pic.twitter.com/XSAXdpz5Aq

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) October 24, 2015"

The praise for Ozil’s creativity should not detract from the virtues of his playmaking partner, Santi Cazorla. The Spaniard continues to lay on plenty of chances for his team-mates, despite his deeper starting position.

That’s in large part due to the improvement in his set-piece delivery—after his lofted free-kick allowed Giroud to bundle home against Bayern Munich, it was his fizzed cross that enabled Laurent Koscielny to double Arsenal’s lead against Everton.

Ozil’s excellence leaves Arsenal in pole position in the race for the Premier League title. If he continues at this rate, he will surely be in contention for some of the English game’s major individual awards, too.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.