The cause, to me, is clear.

It’s no coincidence.*

Arsenal rarely get penalties in the Premier League, so it’s no surprise that they are rubbish at taking them. Granit Xhaka was just showing his solidarity with the rest of his new teammates when he missed and now Mesut Ozil has joined his new chum in some team bonding.

With his side one up against Slovakia and heading for a place in the quarter finals of the Euros, the maestro stepped up to the spot five minutes after Jerome Boateng had given them the lead.

I wasn’t confident, I doubt anyone was as we recalled the Bayern Munich penalty that is seared in our brains.

We watched as his penalty was saved and just sighed. He does most of his magic when the masses aren’t watching, you know.

He was certainly shooting more, for a while immediately after the miss at least. One effort was just nuts, and not in a good way, but he followed that with a low drive that missed by mere inches.

In the end, the miss did not prove decisive and it didn’t seem to affect Ozil who carried on pulling the strings for his country as they slotted home a second and third.

It was a decisive performance from the World Champions and one that must surely worry every other team left in the tournament.

 

 

*It’s probably a coincidence