Martin Keown has a bit of a reputation for being harsh on Mesut Ozil so it came as a bit of a surprise that he was full of praise for the playmaker following the victory over Newcastle.
Keown described Ozil as being ‘magnificent’ against the Magpies.
The former Arsenal man and pundit gave his assessment of the team display to BBC Sport.
READ: Chelsea eye ‘new Mesut Ozil’ who could cost as little as £3m but face Serie A competition
Keown had the following to say about the playmaker of Turkish origin: “Whatever was said at half-time had an effect. The first half was quite poor but the second half was so free in the way that they played.
“The shackles came off, they played with more confidence.
“Ozil, I thought his movement was really important, there was running off the ball with Aubameyang and Pepe was told that in the second half he needs to get at his opponent, which he didn’t do in the first half.
“It was great to watch. It may have flattered them a little bit, 4-0, but Saka is a player going from strength to strength.
“Ozil was magnificent and Saka just keeps getting better and better.
“Ozil had much more purpose in his play and he gets his reward, fortunate with the finish but he deserved that goal.
“He’s playing centrally, he wants to be that player who threads things together and it’s really going well for him.”
Ozil ended up scoring his first goal of the season in what was an impressive display for the north London outfit.
Arsenal will take on Olympiacos next in the Europa League on Thursday.
The first-leg of the Round of 32 clash will be played in Greece.
It remains to be seen whether head coach Mikel Arteta will rotate the team considering they will have to travel back to England and take on Everton just a few days later in the Premier League.
