The British media heaped praise on Mesut Özil's performance during Arsenal's 5-0 against Aston Villa. The Daily Mail called Özil, "The Renaissance Man" due to his spectacular return from injury. The Mail wrote, "Mesut Özil has been a maligned figure at times in his Arsenal career but the attacking midfielder's dominant display in the 5-0 victory over Aston Villa was one of his best yet on these shores. The 26-year-old was almost flawless at The Emirates; his intricate passing combined perfectly with Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey in midfield while his movement in the final third was clever, causing confusion in a Villa defense that was concerned enough with the speed of Theo Walcott. It took only eight minutes for Özil to show he was on form. The performance of Özil will be most encouraging for Manager Arsene Wenger. Özil played with the authority of a World Cup winner and the style of a man who cost 42.5 million pounds."

Arsenal are outside of the top four and have plenty of work to do to secure a Champions League place, so the return of Özil is timely. He has made no secret of the fact that he has hit the gym in order to be able to cope with the physical demands of the Premier League and after recovering from a knee injury against Chelsea sustained in October that ruled him out until last month, this weekend's performance could signal an upturn in his fortunes at Arsenal.