Arsene Wenger says Mesut Ozil has added ‘determination’ to his game as Arsenal prepare to face Liverpool in Friday night’s Premier League clash at the Emirates.
Ozil scored a spectacular winner for the Gunners in their last league outing against Newcastle United and Wenger said after the victory that the German was enjoying his most consistent run for the club.
The 29-year-old is entering the final six months of his contract at Arsenal and Manchester United and Barcelona are said to be interested in securing his signature.
Speaking about Ozil ahead of Friday’s clash against Liverpool, Wenger told Arsenal’s official website: ‘What catches my eye is his availability in the game, his incisiveness that he mixes well between coming to the ball and going in behind, and his desire to score as well.
‘When he has that kind of aggressive decisiveness in his game you feel “tonight is a great night for Mesut”.
‘I think he is fit, sharp and has no injury problems.
‘He worked very hard in training and overall he has added some determination to his game, some fight and attitude that everybody loves of course.’
Wenger insists Arsenal are motivated to ‘put things right’ after they suffered a 4-0 defeat in the reverse fixture against Liverpool.
‘When you have such a long career as I have, you have some defeats unfortunately that hurt you for the rest of your life,’ Wenger said.
‘When you can put things right, do it. So let’s focus on what is in front of us and turn up on Friday night with a completely different performance.
‘The motivation is there. This squad has a good mentality and it is about us, to make sure we are on top of our game. We must play with pace and a determined attitude.’
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, labelled Arsenal a ‘complete football team’ ahead of the trip to north London.
‘I don’t know if there will be a lot of goals again, but we go there to perform and to get as much as we can. We know that’s difficult but in this moment I feel it is possible,’ the German boss said.
‘Arsenal are a complete football team, they are able to do everything, switch and change styles. Against us it happened that they played a lot of long balls to Giroud. He cannot play (Friday) so that will mean they will change a few things maybe.
‘But they are able to create, they will have a strong side whoever will play. It means a lot of good, good footballers on the pitch.’
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