Mesut Ozil is now Arsenal’s most influential player ever

The German has racked up an incredible 16 assists already this season - four short of the record - and is emerging as the Gunners' greatest talisman under Arsene Wenger

Mesut Ozil has taken his game to a whole new level this season, so much so, in fact, that no Arsenal side has been as reliant on one single player as the current team are on their German talisman.

After a couple of largely underwhelming seasons following his club-record move, Ozil is now directly responsible for a higher percentage of the Gunners’ Premier League goals than any other player before him.

An astonishing 57 per cent of Arsenal’s 33 league goals this season have been scored or assisted by Ozil – he has only failed to contribute in one of his last 13 matches!

He has contributed a whole 4.9% more than the next best player, Robin van Persie, who scored or assisted 39 of 74 goals in the 2011/12 season, his final campaign at the Emirates.

Ozil is even providing a higher proportion of Arsenal’s goals than Thierry Henry in 2002/03 (51.8%), when the Frenchman scored or assisted 44 goals – the most of any Gunner in Premier League history.

At his current rate, Ozil is on course to rack up 39 combined goals and assists this season, just shy of Henry’s benchmark, but should break his Premier League assists record by February!