Wenger: There's even more to come from Ozil

he Arsenal boss is convinced the Germany
international, a €47 million summer signing
from Real Madrid, will continue to improve as
he adapts to his environment and team-mates
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes club-
record signing Mesut Ozil still has room for
improvement as he adapts to life at the
Emirates Stadium.
The Germany international had a hand in all
three of the Gunners' goals against Stoke City
on Sunday, directly assisting both Per
Mertesacker and Bacary Sagna with pin-point
set-piece deliveries.
Despite the 24-year-old's match-winning
display, which was greeted by a standing
ovation when he was subbed off late on,
Wenger is convinced Ozil can have an even
greater impact in matches in the future.
“When you look at his numbers, the assists are
not a coincidence it is just a reality of his
game,” said Wenger after the match.
“I believe that once he is completely integrated
we will see even more of him, but he has
shown today that he is a great player.
“You could see today he has good pace as well
and at the moment he focuses on his passes
but he can create individually as well.”
The French boss was pleased with the manner
of his side's performance, as they dug in
against a physical Stoke side and scored from
three set-pieces – normally considered a forte
of the visiting team.
“The first half was fluent, [we played] well
going forward, and in the second half we
looked jaded physically and lost our technical
quality,” the Frenchman continued.
“But we have shown another aspect that we
can dig deep and fight when we are a bit under
pressure.
“When you play against Stoke you don't expect
to score three goals from set-pieces and that is
the biggest surprise for me today. But it shows
as well how important the delivery is.”
Theo Walcott was forced to withdraw from the
starting line-up after suffering an injury in the
pre-match warm-up, and Wenger admitted the
club were struggling to identify the problem or
establish a return date.
“He had an abdominal muscle problem, I don't
really know what it is. Nobody can tell me,”
added Wenger.
“Is it a question of days? I hope. He had a test
before the game, but I decided to play him.
He'd had a little problem already before the
Marseille game and it became a little bit worse.
“I hope it's nothing. It's a bit mysterious
because we don't really know what it is.”