This is why Arsenal decided to pay Mesut Ozil £350,000 a week

Mesut Ozil inspired Arsenal to a 3-1 comeback victory over Leicester City to make it 10 wins in a row for Unai Emery.

Arsenal looked in danger of losing their recent hot streak as Hector Bellerin diverted Ben Chilwell's cross past Bernd Leno in the first half of Monday night's Premier League clash, but Ozil levelled before half-time.

Ozil then split the Leicester defence after the break as Bellerin teed up super sub Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after 63 minutes, and the striker scored his second three minutes later as Ozil teed him up following a superb team move.

James Olley assesses the key talking points at the Emirates...

Emery’s perfect ten

Arsenal have now won ten consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since 2007 to continue the feel-good factor under new head coach Unai Emery.

They were ragged for 35 minutes but rampant thereafter, overwhelming Leicester at times with a stunning combination of quick passing, clever movement and unselfish play in the final third.

It was this sort of football that prompting travelling fans to sing “We’ve got our Arsenal back” during the 5-1 win at Fulham prior to the international break.

While Emery understandably claimed it was too premature to make such a declaration, Arsenal are undeniably making impressive formative strides under the Spaniard.

Ozil leads by example

Mesut Ozil captained Arsenal for the first time from kick-off and although he had a subdued opening 45 minutes, the now-retired Germany international provided the three standout moments in this game to turn it in the home side’s favour.

First, he exchanged passes with Bellerin to finish first time with a wonderfully cushioned finish to cancel out Leicester’s opener. Then he produced a stunning pass to release Bellerin and his cross found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, just on as a substitute, for a tap-in.

He was instrumental in Arsenal’s third, dummying Bellerin’s pass and finding space to collect a ball from Alexandre Lacazette before lifting the ball over Kasper Schmeichel for another close-range finish from Aubameyang.

This was why Arsenal decided to pay him £350,000-a-week – and it feels like a benchmark for him to aim for this season.

Puel’s switch causes Arsenal early problems

Leicester lined up in something approximating a 5-2-3 system and Arsenal struggled to get to grips for the majority of the first half.

The benefit of Claude Puel’s switch to a back five was that Ricardo Pereira and particularly Ben Chilwell had the chance to make inroads in wide areas, exemplified by the latter’s powerful run which led to Bellerin deflecting his 31st-minute cross for the opening goal.

Leicester could easily have been further ahead by that point and were unfortunate not to go in ahead, denied a half-time lead by Ozil’s superbly worked and finished equaliser. However, Arsenal never looked back from that moment on.

Emery has one eye on the Europa League

There was widespread surprise at the strength of the squad Emery selected for Arsenal’s 5,000-mile round-trip to Azerbaijan earlier this month but it appears likely he will do the same again for this week’s visit to Sporting Lisbon.

While Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac were not risked with slight hamstring problems, the omission of Aubameyang and, to a lesser extent, Aaron Ramsey was a gamble given the prize on offer here of potentially moving up to third place with a resounding win.

Emery waited until just after the hour mark to introduce his record signing and the impact was immediate - two goals in three minutes within five minutes of coming on.