Arsenal star Mesut Ozil provided the highest number of assists in the Premier League last season (19) but has setup just one goal over the current league campaign.
Despite his lack of assists the Gunners have been in impressive form winning their last five games in the league and are currently just two points behind league leaders Manchester City.
Ozil’s lack of assists would appear to be a reason for concern at first glance but taking a closer look at the stats it is clear that the North London based outfit have become less reliant on the Germany international of Turkish origin – the playmaker was directly involved in 38 percent of the Gunners 65 league goals last season.
Arsenal have also changed their playing style following injury to Olivier Giroud which has forced Arsene Wenger to use Alexis Sanchez up front as well as Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi – all three use their pace to great effect and run at defenders.
Ozil has not been left with single handedly trying to unpick defences with through balls to a target man like Giroud. The Arsenal attack has become multi-faceted making them less predictable for opposition defences.
In other Arsenal team news eight different players have scored at least two goals this season and four – Sanchez, Walcott, Iwobi and Cazorla – have at least two assists each.
Ozil himself has two goals in the league – four in all competitions. The 27-year-old’s passing remains as impressive as ever, averaging 90 percent accuracy but his key passes are down to 2.2 per-game from 4.2 last season according to Whoscored.
The Arsenal star will however, have Giroud returning from injury soon and if Wenger does decide to bring him back into the first team Ozil’s assist rate may increase or perhaps the French striker will become the Gunners Plan B.
Ozil’s assists may be down from last season but Arsenal’s overall attacking output is up.
