It took one swipe of his left leg for Mesut Ozil to simultaneously take out six Burnley defenders and have his legion of loyal followers reaching for their social media accounts.
No player splits opinion quite like Ozil, but the man whose perspective really counts, Arsenal manager Unai Emery, is doing a pretty good job of figuring out the German.
Having left Ozil out of his squad for ‘tactical reasons’ for the highly-charged Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur, Emery felt this was the perfect day for Arsenal’s highest-earner.
Not only did Emery bring Ozil back into his team, but he also handed the 30-year-old the captain’s armband – just as he had done against Leicester City in October.
Ozil scored and assisted against the Foxes and the pass in the build-up to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opener that set Arsenal on their way to this victory over Burnley demonstrated his value against opposition that like to sit back.
Sead Kolasinac’s run had not been spotted by any of the six defenders Ozil took out with a pass from the edge of the area that had the Emirates purring. And Arsenal’s left-back cut the ball back for Aubameyang to score and ensure the Gunners took a lead into the break for the first time in the Premier League this season.
Aubameyang netted his 12th League goal of the season three minutes into second half, following an Arsenal break from the edge of their own area, to effectively secure the three points but it is the debate over Ozil that will rage on.
His critics will argue that he his defence-beating pass was a flash of brilliance in an otherwise above average performance. But his thousands of fans will be ‘retweeting’ and ‘liking’ videos and still images of his ball for Kolasinac well into the New Year.
What cannot be debated is that Arsenal remain vulnerable at the back, as was underlined by a Burnley side that arrived at the Emirates having scored only six league goals on the road.
Ashley Barnes took that tally to seven in the 63rd minute to ensure Arsenal could not coast towards victory, thanks to some terrible defending.
Phil Bardsley floated a hopeful pass towards the back post that was headed down by Ben Mee. Substitute Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka both had chances to clear the danger, but failed to do so and Barnes eventually lashed the ball into the net.
Barnes had seen Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno stop him from giving Burnley a shock fourth-minute lead after Nacho Monreal had missed a straightforward header to allow the visitors a sight of goal.
With Burnley threatening to make it a dramatic finish, Emery replaced Alexandre Lacazette with Alex Iwobi, much to the frustration of the French forward.
Lacazette moaned to members of the Arsenal bench as he took his seat, but Ozil seemed to take his leadership role seriously by shouting ‘calm down’ at his team-mates in the final minutes.
He then took matters into his own hands to eradicate any lingering nerves by carrying the ball past a couple of challenges into the Burnley penalty area and his blocked shot fell to Iwobi to score.
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