Arsenal bounced back from two defeats inside a week with a convincing 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday after the out-of-sorts Mesut Ozil answered his many critics by producing a match-winning performance.

The German wore the captain’s armband despite being left out of the starting 11 in recent weeks by coach Unai Emery who was happy with his player’s response, playing a leading role in two of their goals.

“He played like we need [him to] today,” the Spaniard reflected afterwards. “His skills, his commitment was very good. He helped us. I said we needed Mesut and today he was there for us.”