Arsene Wenger delighted with Mesut Ozil's fighting spirit after German steals the show against Huddersfield

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Arsene Wenger hailed Mesut Ozil’s new fighting spirit after the German midfielder put in another brilliant performance in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town this evening.

Ozil ran the game and settled it with two assists and one goal in a brilliant four-minute spell in the second half. This came after shaking off illness that kept him out of the 1-0 win at Burnley on Sunday, and Wenger was delighted with the player whose Arsenal future is unclear give the fact his contract will expire at the end of the season.

“If you often come to the games, nobody has to be convinced that Ozil is a great football player,” Wenger said.

“Against Spurs he showed that he can fight, come back and win the ball back. Once people see that, they are behind you. Everybody in the stadium knows that he is a great football player. I think he has showed as well that he can fight.”

Wenger put that improvement down to a combination of maturity and motivation. “Our job is to encourage people to fight, of course,” Wenger said. “He has always covered the distances in the game. Maybe he is at an age where he understands what is important, and what is not important.

“Everybody wants to be acknowledged for his quality, the judgements are sometimes harsh in a footballer’s job. But the overall majority of people here love him, and always loved him.”

Wenger was pleased with how Ozil changed the game and made Arsenal play their best football in the second half. “At 1-0 with played with a bit of fear, the pass did not come early enough, we played a bit inhibited” he said.

“Once we scored our second we played with freedom, drive and creativity. Our link play became fantastic to watch in the last 20 minutes. Suddenly there was more movement, more passing.”

Wenger confirmed that Alexandre Lacazette went off with a groin injury at half-time and will miss Saturday’s game with Manchester United.