The fact that Mesut Ozil is still having to prove doubters wrong says everything that is wrong with English football.

His goal and assist on Wednesday night set Arsenal on the path to a comfortable 3-0 victory over a West Ham side now battling to avoid the drop.

Substitute Olivier Giroud may have scored the best goal of the night with his team’s third but it was Ozil who grabbed the headlines in this London derby.

Surrounded by players who make runs off the ball, the German playmaker thrived. His pass to Theo Walcott summed up his intelligence and credit goes to the England forward for not making the obvious run across the six-yard box, instead peeling off the Hammers defenders and allowing Ozil to play the cut-back.

The former Real Madrid star has taken much of the flak for an extremely disappointing season for the Gunners and admitted in an interview last week that when things go wrong at the club, fans and media use him as a scapegoat.

But it is no surprising that when put in the right system, Ozil is one of the world’s best at creating space and laying on chances for his teammates to tuck away.