Arsenal boss Unai Emery hails Mesut Ozil leadership... but demands consistency

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James Benge23 October 2018

Unai Emery hailed Mesut Ozil’s display of leadership after Arsenal’s captain for the day inspired a superb fightback to earn a 3-1 victory over Leicester that extended the Gunners’ winning streak to 10 games.

Ozil, wearing the armband from the off for the first time in the absence of club captain Laurent Koscielny and Petr Cech, provided a goal, an assist and the crucial pass for Arsenal’s second - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first of two - as Arsenal overcame a spirited Leicester display that had seen them snatch an early lead after Hector Bellerin deflected Ben Chilwell’s cross into his own net.

Whilst his raw output was impressive it was the grace, elan and swagger with which the German went about his work that so impressed. By the end of the 21-minute triple-salvo that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 win, the Emirates was united in chanting “we’ve got Ozil” with gusto.

The 30-year-old had labelled the display “sexy football” and it was a description Emery was more than happy to hear.

In Pictures | Arsenal vs Leicester City | 22/10/2018

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“With every player today I’m very happy,” the Arsenal head coach told Standard Sport. “Each player is giving us his quality, his capacity. We are demanding a lot of ourselves.

“For Ozil today it was a very good performance. We are going to push and demand for ourselves and him this regularly.

“Did his leadership impress me? Yeah, yeah. It’s very important in this situation. But we have in the team a lot of players with this capacity. Because also each player with his quality or his capacity, he can help us.”

Emery had spoken before the season spoke of his plan to have a leadership group of at least five, with Ozil among the quintet.

With Koscielny still sidelined with the Achilles injury he suffered in May, there is a potential vacancy over the coming weeks - but Emery is less concerned with who wears the armband than that every player takes on the leadership mantle as Ozil did today.

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“We have captains, very clear,” he said. “And I think every player is very important. And I think [Ozil] can play every match with this commitment and with this quality, whether he is captain or not captain.

“We are going to demand for us every match and each player with this commitment and this behaviour.”

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