![\"1411226196104_Image_galleryImage_BIRMINGHAM_ENGLAND_SEPTEM\"](\"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/1411226196104_Image_galleryImage_BIRMINGHAM_ENGLAND_SEPTEM.jpg\")
<\/a>Mesut Ozil evades Philippe Senderos to latch on to Danny Welbeck’s pass and score Arsenal’s opening goal against Aston Villa<\/p>\nWenger then sat back and watched Ozil and deadline-day signing Danny Welbeck tear Villa to shreds with three goals in the space of little more than three minutes.<\/p>\n
The Frenchman admitted that dropping his \u00a342million record buy from Real Madrid for his poor showing in Tuesday\u2019s Champions League defeat against Borussia Dortmund might destroy his fragile confidence.<\/p>\n
Instead, he moved the 25-year-old into a central position where he could affect play, and Ozil did not let him down with a goal and assist.<\/p>\n
\u2018I didn\u2019t really consider leaving out Ozil,\u2019 said Wenger. \u2018I have a lot of attacking players and you are always looking to find the right balance. Alexis Sanchez for example, has played every game and I felt he needed a rest.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wanted Ozil to play behind their midfield. It was important for him to find space between the lines and it worked.<\/p>\n
\u2018I felt we were at the point where I had to show confidence in him. You never know how people respond to being left out. It\u2019s a sensitive point.\u2019<\/p>\n
Improbable as it sounds, Paul Lambert\u2019s men could have gone top of the table with a victory on Saturday, with the only team above them at kick-off, Chelsea, playing Manchester City on Sunday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like all great managers, Arsene Wenger is at his best when being written off and bombarded with advice from supporters who should know better. The call from Arsenal fans for the manager to sling out Mesut Ozil had reached fever pitch in the build-up to Saturday’s match at Villa Park. So what did Wenger do? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,80],"tags":[37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4791"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4794,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4791\/revisions\/4794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}