Mesut Ozil: A player seeking form

Mesut Ozil's somewhat dip in performance rate of late has been picked up in the Metro newspaper, something which I have noted in the last few weeks.

Reading Gavin Brown's article on the train this morning, he isn't particularly downgrading or calling Ozil a bad player (that would be absurd) but he is maybe missing the winter break he became accustomed to back in Spain. He is 'missing in action', as Brown puts it.

As I said in a previous post, perhaps he is feeling the pressure of his high price tag, while his slight injury picked up in the last couple of months will have hindered him after his fine start since joining from Read Madrid in August.

But yes I agree with Brown's point regarding the winter break also, and he suggests Ozil is perhaps in a winter-break mindset. If that is the case, let's hope he picks up form shortly. In contrast however, Ozil recently revealed how he is enjoying playing in England without the winter break he has become accustomed to. He revealed he wants to continue improving, which he may have to based on his recent form, and puts a lot of that down to playing more regular games which happens during the winter period. Maybe he is putting too much pressure on himself?

I think a lot of fans are choosing to ignore Ozil's dip in form, perhaps not wanting to come to terms with our expensive talisman being in need of finding his way again.  Of course there is no doubting his talents; he has proven himself in English football as he showed to us all when joining on transfer deadline day.

We take on Fulham tomorrow afternoon (3pm GMT kick off) in what should be a relatively straight forward task. René Meulensteen's side are battling to stay in the Barclays Premier League, with only two points separating them and the drop, with all three teams in the relegation zone sharing seventeen points.

Rosicky and Monreal are expected to return for tomorrow's game. Rosicky could feature with a mask after braking his nose against Aston Villa which forced him to be a substituted sub. Monreal meanwhile should be available despite a twisted ligament in his foot.

Despite Olivier Giroud's well taken and somewhat fortuitous goal last Monday, he still needs to do a lot more upfront to prove he is our main man up-front. Arsene believes in him to prove why we won't be delving into the January transfer market for a striker, but I think I still need persuading.

Enjoy the game tomorrow. For the Metro's feature on Mesut Ozil, click here.

Ozil: the centre of attention after signing from Real Madrid in August

Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal: Arsenal hold on in a tale of two halves

So Arsenal have gone back to top the Premier League once more following their 2-1 win against Aston Villa tonight, but they certainly made it a difficult task.

We cruised the first half, looking in total control with Villa unable to muster much other than a Fabian Delph effort that went agonisingly wide. Other than that, I can't recall Szczesny having anything else to do.

We looked good and created a couple of early half chances but Giroud, being Giroud, was unable to give us an early lead. Podolski was on the bench for this one, and remained an unused sub, but he should have come on in the second half with Giroud putting in yet another frustrating performance.

The Frenchman did score however in a blink-and-you'd-miss it scenario. Both goals came back to back of each other with our second goal coming only around 15 seconds of the restart. I was still celebrating the first in fact.

Nacho Monreal darted down the left following Mesut Ozil's fine through ball, and the left back's cross went behind Matt Lowton with Jack Wilshere arriving. His first touch was superb as he set himself up for the shot, with his effort a little scuffed as it rolled past a diving Brad Guzan.

Arsenal had been pressing Villa all game and credit to the hosts for once we got the ball back, we faced a well organised Villa defence. But just after the restart Giroud's pressing won the ball back and we darted forward. Wilshere turned provider this time with his pass to the striker who struck his shot into the ground as it blasted past Guzan, who had only just picked the ball out of his net.

Aston Villa looked a different side in the second half however and we looked a little concerning. Christian Benteke, who hadn't scored in nearly four months, was getting into some good positions and managed to pull one back for the hosts with 15 minutes remaining; only his sixth goal, and his third third against us, this season. Lowton produced a great cross behind our back line and Benteke dived in at the back post with a header to halve the deficit.

I thought we would let Villa back into it completely from then on in and we had to ride the storm a little. We held on however, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming on late in the second half to make his first appearance for us since the opening game of the season.

If I was Wenger however I'd be pretty disappointed with our second half performance. As has been a similar occurrence of late, Ozil hasn't been living up to his £42m price tag, and even Santi Cazorla was at fault for Villa's goal. I will be happy when Aaron Ramsey makes his return from injury, as Rosicky was forced off tonight, and Arteta wasn't named in Wenger's 18-man squad tonight, presumably with an injury.

Serge Gnabry looked lively again tonight and we take the three points that we knew we needed. We remain top of the table once again, and can look forward to our next home match against a lacklustre Fulham on Saturday.

The Wilshere-Media row: Smoking and what is being English?

He's not had a great couple of weeks, media-wise, has Jack Wilshere? While international football has taken over, he's certainly kept Arsenal fans with something to talk about.

Firstly he was publicly ridiculed for smoking a cigarette outside a nightclub following Arsenal's 2-1 win against Swansea, and then criticised for comments made about what makes a footballer eligible to play for England.

Let's get things straight on the smoking front.

I am not a smoker but neither do I judge those who wish to smoke, either casually or regularly. Jack Wilshere is a human being as well as a footballer. Sound obvious, but many people seem to need reminding of this simple fact.

Smoking isn't recommended as a professional footballer, as is drinking, but everyone enjoys a tipple now and again without it doing damage to your health and the same applies to a cigarette. We all know about the build up of tar and such other horrible things, but one cigarette being smoked outside a club...really?

I get he's a public figure in the football world and may have an image to abide by, but in his own personal life (like I said, don't forget footballers have lives off the pitch too), he should be allowed a break.

Having a puff: The father of two is disgraced by the media for his actions

The 'racist' row if we can call it that, has similarly been met by those on both sides of the fence, but perhaps a little too much negativity has been made of his remarks.

He openly denied that his comments were made about Manchester United's rising star Adnan Januzaj, who faces the options of representing either England, his country of birth Belgium, or his parent's respective country of births Turkey or Serbia. He would be able to represent the English national side from 2018, after living in the country for what would make five years.

The midfielder faced a host of backlash from other sporting professionals including cricketer Kevin Pietersen. The south-African born Batsman quizzed our number 10 on the eligibility of non-ngland born sports men and women playing for England in their respected sports.

But what makes a person English? To me nobody belongs to a country. If you believe the research done into the history of civilisation even, we all descend from Africa. Does that make us African instead? I'm not Wilshere's personal family historian but there would have been a point in time where his family crossed over to England.

I don't think he's racist and for the development of young hopefuls already in England, and for the national team to become a strong side, who's to say even restricting the number of recent foreign born players would be a bad thing?

The highly rated youngster is rumoured to have been offered 60k a week at Old Trafford.

German football has been growing and we are seeing, and have seen the talent and capabilities the national team are producing. So Podolski, Kheidera, Gomez and Klose had / have other nationalities but again this backs up nobody really belongs to a country but they chose a national side who have become second to Spain, whereas we remain a little further behind.

Something still needs to change but England are currently top of the group heading into the final World Cup qualifier against Poland tomorrow (15/10/2013 7:45pm k/o BST) night.

Wilshere need not let all the media focus effect him in a bad way, for no matter what he does off the field, on it is what England fans and Arsenal fans alike will judge him by.

Wilshere recognises the support of his fans.

Arsenal top table as Gibbs gets England call up for international break

Arsenal had to claw a goal back after falling behind to West Brom on Sunday; the first time I felt a little concerned this season for them since the opening couple of weeks.

They did well to draw level (1-1) and take a point in the end though as they continued their undefeated streak.

Jack Wilshere got his first goal in around three years for the club to avoid a disappointing result, in a game that might have swung either way. Both sides had spells and opportunities but nevertheless, Arsenal had to settle for the point that sees them joint top of the league alongside Liverpool.

It's the return of the internationals now with England (bore) up against Montenegro and Poland in the next week as they aim to qualify for the World Cup finals which take place next summer.

Gibbs has been called up, and deservedly so, to England's defence with Ashley Cole injured, though Leighton Baines is most likely to get the nod ahead of our left back.

Wilshere, who is buoyed by the returns of Rooney and Sturridge as the BBC are reporting, will aim to be the play-maker who can help to England qualify from Group H though Theo Walcott remains sidelined through injury.

Could the break deter Arsenal from their fine recent performances? A dip in form could always be around the corner for any good team as I wrote a few weeks ago. Regardless, I hope England will qualify and that all our players do well for their respected countries...and not pick up any more injuries in the process!

England's final fixtures:

v Montenegro (H) Fri 11th, 20:00 k/o BST

v Poland (H) Tues 15th, 20:00 k/o BST

Gibbs gets the call by Roy Hodgson