Wenger’s Wizards: Arsenal’s top five creative players this season

Mesut Ozil – 45

Despite a recent drop-off in his splendidly eye-catching early-season form, Mesut Ozil has just about done what he could have so far to justify his club-record transfer fee. The bug-eyed German arrived from Spain with the reputation of assist king, the man who carves defences apart with a delectable marriage of vision and technique, and he has not disappointed. Only Wayne Rooney (who has two more appearances to his name) has laid on more goals than Arsenal’s newest creator, while the way in which Ozil has added newfound purpose and profile to an entire club is impossible to quantify but even more significant.

That Arsenal were already well-stocked with diminutive playmakers is simply proof – along with Manchester United’s acquisition of Robin van Persie a year previous – that sometimes providing a team with another of the same sort of player can still transform an entire side. Truly high-end quality can compensate for overall imbalance or even disfunction.