Chris Sutton has leapt to the defence of Mesut Özil, and called out Martin Keown for his relentless criticism of the German.

Keown has been very anti-Özil for much of the season, most notably when he claimed that the midfielder had already left the club psychologically and mentally, and said Arsene Wenger was just trying to get a good deal for him now.

Sutton had a go at Keown for those comments on BT Sport, saying: “You know who’s been good for Arsenal in recent weeks, and you can have Martin Keown here telling you everything that Mesut Özil does wrong, but I’ll tell you he does a lot of things, a lot of things right.

martin keown
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown.

“He’s got more assists than any other player since he came into the Premier League. Arsenal knew what they were buying, I think he’s been singled out a lot for unfair criticism because there are 11 players who go out every week for Arsenal.”

It’s true that Özil has been as good as anyone for the Gunners in recent weeks. Against Huddersfield he was on top of his game, with two assists and a goal in a matter of minutes.

Then against Manchester United he created chance after chance as Arsenal had 33 shots, but unfortunately the vast majority of those shots were wasted or saved well by David De Gea.

Even against Southampton, when the majority of the team didn’t play particularly well, the 29-year-old was one of the few bright sparks still making things happen.

Arsenal fans, some of whom were initially just as critical as Keown when the season got underway, are now mostly hoping and praying for a new contract announcement as soon as possible.

Hopefully Martin will be humble enough to admit he got things wrong, but we’ll see.