Ozil: I can shine now team-mates look for me more

Mark Holmes
Mesut Ozil: Arsenal playmaker with partner Mandy Grace Capristo

Mesut Ozil: Arsenal playmaker with partner Mandy Grace Capristo

Mesut Ozil says his team-mates are looking for him more this season, which is allowing him to control games for Arsenal.

Ozil has registered 10 assists after just 12 games of the new Premier League campaign, helping the Gunners to second place, behind Manchester City on goal difference alone.

“I think as a team you can see that we’ve become more mature. We’ve learnt from our mistakes and you can see on the pitch that we’re more steady,” Ozil told the club’s official website.

“We’ve had some setbacks this season but we’ve learnt from them and it shows on the pitch that my team mates are looking for me even more and I’m able to control the game better. You can see that we function well as a team.

“When you look at the past seasons, we’ve always been a technically-strong team but when we played against big teams, we dropped points.

“In the second half of last season and in this year so far, we’ve proved ourselves against the biggest teams.

“You learn from your mistakes and we can measure ourselves with the best. That distinguishes us as a team.”