Ozil masterclass leads Gunners to 10th straight win

Sports Desk: Mesut Ozil was Arsenal's captain fantastic as the Gunners came from behind to beat Leicester 3-1 and win for the 10th successive game.

The former Germany international was handed the armband by Unai Emery and put in a magnificent display, scoring a first-half equaliser and playing a key role in both of substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's second half goals.

Leicester boss Claude Puel saw his side start brightly, Harry Maguire forcing a fine save from Bernd Leno, while they should have had an early penalty after handball by Rob Holding.

Deservedly the visitors took the lead just past the hour mark. Ben Chilwell snuck in behind Arsenal 's defence to latch on to a fine angled pass and darted past Bellerin; his attempted low cross deflected off the Spaniard, wrong-footing Leno - who was too quick to go down to his right - and into the Arsenal net.

It was no less than they deserved, but they couldn't hold out until half-time, with Ozil's starting and finishing a flowing Arsenal move a minute before the break.

The Gunners made a bright start to the second half, reinvigorated by Ozil's equaliser.

However it was Puel's side who went closest to scoring in the 58th minute; James Maddison's corner tempted Leno out of his goal, and the German was nowhere as Wilfried Ndidi crashed a header against the crossbar.

Then, following an adventurous double change from Emery which saw Aubameyang replace left-back Lichtsteiner, Ozil really took charge.

Dropping deeper into midfield, he played a wonderful incisive pass through the Foxes' defence for the overlapping Bellerin, who squared for Aubameyang to tap home two minutes after his arrival on the scene.

And the Gabonese striker applied the finishing touch to another magnificent move minutes later, Ozil once more the catalyst.

Alexandre Lacazette missed a couple of late chances as the Gunners continued to come on strong, but they hardly mattered as Emery's side made it 10 wins on the spin.

Agencies


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