Arsenal secured a dramatic 2nd placed finish in the league after pipping Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the season. The Gunners destroyed a hapless Aston Villa side as Olivier Giroud scored a hat-trick.
But Spurs suffered a shock defeat to Newcastle United. The Toons ran riot against the Lilywhites despite being down to 10 men. Ozil missed out on a landmark this season. He recorded 19 assists in the league just one short of Thierry Henry’s all-time record.
The playmaker could have had more though this season. Ozil did manage to break another Premier League record, by creating the highest number of chances ever in a single season. With that kind of creativity, Arsenal should be able to score a lot more than they did.
It shows the clear problems Arsenal have had in the striking department. Wenger failed to recruit last summer and in January this year as well when it was crucial that Arsenal bought a top striker to help their title charge.
Ozil was obviously disappointed at how the season turned out but he expects Arsenal to be back stronger next season. Speaking to Sport360 he said, “It's a long season and a lot of things must go right in the season. One of the things is players getting injured, which is one factor definitely.”
“On the other hand we just have to focus more and with stronger players maybe coming in be competitive for next season and we will see where we end up at the end.”
Ozil will travel with the Germany team to France for the Euros. Arsenal desperately want to keep Ozil for longer than the two years remaining on his contract. There has been recent talk of him signing an extension which will make him the highest-paid player at the club.
But those talks have apparently stalled because Ozil is supposedly waiting to see if Arsenal will spend big in the summer or not which is very understandable. “Especially after the Barcelona game [in the Champions League] we lost some points. That was a time when we weren't good enough to just take points and go” said the 27-year-old.
Ozil has a valid point. He and Sanchez have been Arsenal’s star performers over the last couple of seasons. But both have been let down by the lack of end product in the team. Olivier Giroud might be a decent striker but he is not the high-quality striker Arsenal need.
