Mesut Ozil key to securing Arsenal's passage to knockout stages of Champions League

Mesut Ozil has provided 12 assists and has scored four goals this season for Arsenal

MESUT OZIL is the best provider in Europe, according to the stats. And he will need to be on Wednesday.

 

Arsenal will be looking to their record £42million midfielder to set up even more golden chances in Greece if they are to get the two-goal win over Olympiakos they need to stand any chance of going through to the next stage of the Champions League.

That's why he declared himself ready, willing and able last night - providing the teammates behind him don't repeat the defensive blunders that handed the Greeks a surprise 3-2 win at the Emirates back in September.

It won't be easy, but Germany's World Cup playmaker insisted: "We can do it."

Ozil, having his best season at Arsenal since moving there more than two years ago, has provided more assists than anyone else in the Champions League and in the Premier League's history as well.

But he admits that this week's must win clash in Athens could prove to be one of his biggest tests.

 

He said: "It will be very hard. Olympiakos can play good football and we saw that at The Emirates.

"We can go there and win by two goals if we give everything, but we can't concede goals like we did before.

"We have to be good in defence. If they score a goal then we have to score three goals, but we know that we can score.

"We know we have a lot of quality up front, but our goal is to go into half-time ahead and then we will know that everything is possible."

Ozil's growing confidence comes from enjoying what he says is "the strongest season I have ever played."

 

"I believe in myself," he revealed. "I am playing really well and everything is working really well.

"If we score an early goal I'm confident we can win this game and go through. And I hope I can help the team with a good performance on the night."

As a result the dreaded D word doesn't figure in the Arsenal vocabulary right now. The S word - success to you and me - is all that matters.

Ozil added: "We're not looking at being knocked out of the Champions League. We have the quality to beat them and our goal is not to think about going out of the competition.

"We want to win this game and get through to the next round. We want to win this game by two goals - and we really believe we can do it."