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December 23, 2015

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Ozil: Arsenal can win league

ARSENAL can win the English Premier League title this season if it can continue playing the type of game it did during Monday night’s 2-1 win over Manchester City, midfielder Mesut Ozil has said.

The win saw the Gunners, who are second in the table and two points behind leader Leicester City after 17 games, open up a four-point gap over Manuel Pellegrini’s side which is third.

“We believe in ourselves. If you see the games against the big clubs, we won against them so we know our quality, if we play our game we can win the league,” Ozil said after the game. “We will give our best all the season for the title. We have had a lot of difficult games, we are happy to win against Manchester City and we take the three points.

“I’m happy to help the team. You see on the pitch that my teammates help me to play my game. I just help them in return so today was another important game for us.

“I tried to give my best and we won the game, so we take the three points and that’s the most important thing.”

Theo Walcott believes Ozil’s red-hot form is making life easier for Arsenal as the Germany international leads the Gunners’ assault on the title.

The World Cup winner set up Walcott and Olivier Giroud on Monday to register his 14th and 15th assists of the season and is on course to beat Thierry Henry’s record for the most assists in a single campaign (20), which the Frenchman set 13 years ago.

“The thing about Mesut is that he sees things that most players don’t even see on the pitch. You just have to make that run,” Walcott said. “We’ve got special players on the pitch who provide special moments in the match, and that makes our jobs so much easier.

“The amount he gives to this team, the threat going forward and also defensively, he puts a shift in and people don’t see that side of the game which has changed in the whole squad.”

City’s right-back Bacary Sagna said the defeat was “hard to take” but the team was confident it has plenty of games remaining to catch up.

Yaya Toure scored late in the second half for City but it was in vain as the visitors had their winless streak on the road stretched to five league games. “It’s hard to take, I think we started the game really well, we had possession of the ball, and on their first shot they scored,” Sagna said.

“It makes it difficult against a quality team. Now we have to keep our heads up because they are creating a gap.”

City hosts relegation-threatened Sunderland in the league on Saturday, before taking on current leader Leicester away on December 29.


 

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