Unai Emery Praises 'Big Performance' from Mesut Ozil, Calls for Consistency

Unai Emery hailed Mesut Ozil's response to coming back into the team as Arsenal dispatched Burnley 3-1 on Saturday and called for him to show his capabilities more consistently.

Speculation over the German's future has been rife after he was left out of the squad for Wednesday's 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, which Emery said was for "tactical reasons," per MailOnline's Kieran Gill.

He was handed the captain's armband against the Clarets, though, and put in a showing that pleased Emery.

"It was a big performance, and afterwards I spoke with him and said 'congratulations for your work,'" he said, per BBC Sport's Harry Poole. "He showed his quality, and we needed him to work to help us today, and he did."

He echoed those sentiments in his post-match press conference, per ESPN FC's Mattias Karen:

The Spaniard is hoping to see more of that from him in the coming weeks. He told Sky Sports (h/t MailOnline's Nathan Salt): "Ozil played very well. We want a Mesut like today. Today we won. Tomorrow we have off. Then we will prepare for the next game against Brighton [& Hove Albion]."

It was a standout performance from the playmaker at the Emirates Stadium.

He helped the Gunners take the lead after 14 minutes with a defence-splitting pass to Sead Kolasinac, who touched the ball back, allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to fire home:

After Kolasinac and Aubameyang combined well for the latter to score again, Ashley Barnes pulled one back for the visitors shortly after the hour mark.

Alex Iwobi wrapped things up in injury time, though, when a deflected shot from Ozil fell kindly for him. The German had worked his way into the penalty area with a fine dribble past two Burnley defenders.

Goal's Chris Wheatley shared the 30-year-old's impressive numbers from the match:

The Times' Henry Winter suggested Emery's willingness to drop Ozil could motivate the player to iron out the flaws in his game:

Aside from a sublime display against Leicester City in October, during which he captained the side and grabbed a goal and an assist, top performances from Ozil have been few and far between this season.

Given he's reportedly the club's top earner with a £350,000-per-week salary, Arsenal will want much more from him than that—and not just at home to sides they will be expecting to beat.

Saturday was a timely reminder of what he can do following days of speculation regarding his future, but as Emery noted, Ozil needs to make a difference on a consistent basis to justify his place in the team.