[THREAD] With Mesut Özil’s departure from Arsenal all but confirmed, I thought now would be a better time than any to sit back and reminisce about his greatest campaign in English football. The 2015/16 season. Enjoy… #DankeMesut

Özil’s surface metrics were nothing short of out of this world in the 2015/16 season. 6 goals, 19 assists. NINETEEN. Only Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne have managed to better that assist record. Özil was straightforwardly a creative machine.

The impressively high number of assists was no fluke. Özil registered a phenomenal 0.52 xA/90. His monumental 4.29 key passes/90 made for an equally impressive stat. Since xStats started to be recorded, only KDB has produced a better creative PL season than Özil’s 15/16 campaign.

After Arsenal’s disappointing opening day defeat at the hands of West Ham, Özil responded well. 6 assists in the 7 games that followed. In that period, he also opened his goalscoring tally for the season and recorded 43 key passes. Decent return!

Özil’s most eye-catching display in that period came in the 3-0 victory over Man United at the Emirates. Özil ran the show as he grabbed a goal and an assist in an exhilarating Arsenal performance. His partnership with fellow superstar Alexis Sanchez appeared telepathic that day.

It would be unfair not to mention the memorable 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League which came 11 days after the Man United game. Özil reigned supreme over his international team-mates grabbing the decisive goal in stoppage time. World class.

The good form continued for Özil. His return was just sensational in the first half of the season. The German’s assist tally sat at 16 at the turn of the year. He wasn’t only on track to break the assist record. He was set to make a mockery of Henry’s record of 20 assists.

Unfortunately, Özil’s xA caught up with him. Despite sitting on 16 assists on 2016 new years’ day, he’d registered an xA of just 11.99. Of course, still an impressive record, but Özil hadn’t been quite as good creatively as his Premier League assist tally suggested he had been.

If one game summarised Özil’s overperformance, it was the 2-1 win over Manchester City in late December. Don’t get me wrong, the playmaker did well to grab 2 assists, but he was only expected to provide 0.12 that day. A credit to Giroud and Walcott’s finishing.

Sadly, Özil infamously only grabbed 3 assists from there on in. One to bring about the moment of the season by planting pinpoint free kick on Danny Welbeck’s head against Leicester, then another one a week later vs. Man United and one more on the final day at home to Villa.

So, when we talk about the 2015/16 season, undoubtedly Özil’s best in an Arsenal shirt, we’re only really referring to the first half of it. As Özil’s form dried up, so did the team’s as Leicester swooped in to gain the title. Just imagine if Özil retained his early season form…

Alas, he didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we can’t sit back and reflect on what was arguably the greatest half-season the Premier League has seen from a player looking at it from a creative viewpoint. Özil ran riot. Özil turned games at his own will. Özil was world class.

It hasn’t ended the way anyone would’ve wanted it to, but Özil is leaving us with some footballing memories which a fair few Arsenal fans will never forget. He could’ve played anywhere, but he chose us. Thank you for 7 and a half years of service Mesut Özil.

[END OF THREAD]

Thank you if you’ve taken the time out of your day to have a read of this analysis. If you enjoyed it, I’d really appreciate it if you retweeted/liked my work. Feel free to give myself @wlyablog a follow too. Cheers

Likes/RTs appreciated @ltarsenal @watmanAFC @LeGrove @afclucy @arsenalnewsasit @WorldwideAFC @afcjxmes @PainInThArsenal @AFCMax9 @afcstuff @DailyAFC @afcDW @TheArsenalog @arsenalrising @arseblog