Arsenal star Mesut Özil has had a rough ride from sections of the media this season.
The 26-year-old has been slammed for everything his languid playing style, to having poor body language but the statistics continue to contradict the critics.
Arsenal have won 13 out of 15 games Özil has played in since returning from injury.
The Gunners are currently on an eight match win streak in the league and recently moved into second in the Premier League.
See More:
Arsenal News
Turkish Football Abroad
Arsenal star Ozil unleashes his summer swag
The World Cup winner has scored or provided an assist in seven out of the last nine league games he has played in.
The World Cup winner has also covered more distance since his return than his teammates.
The 26-year-old was recently singled out by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as being one of the players he feels has been instrumental in turning around the Gunners fortunes.
“What people forgot is that we had big players out for four months this season,” Wenger told the official Arsenal website.
“We have a better balance in the team and some players have made it like Coquelin, who contributes to the balance of the team. Hector Bellerin as well has come into the team. And big players like Koscielny, like Ozil, like Giroud have been out four months in the season – four months the three together!”
Özil has been found to be the second best performing attacking midfielder in Europe since the turn of the year.
The World Cup winner scored 100 in the CIES Football Observatory’s latest performance rankings.
Özil is statistically the third best performing Arsenal player this season according to Whoscored with a rating of 7.63.
The attacking midfielder has however, scored a rating of 7.84 since returning from injury.
Arsenal take on Reading next in the FA Cup semi-final on 18 April.
