Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hails Mesut Ozil as stunning running and recoveries stats against Man Utd emerge

ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta hailed Mesut Ozil after the impressive victory over Manchester United following his sensational showing.

The German playmaker, 31, appears to be a star reborn under the new boss and was superb in the 2-0 victory at the Emirates.

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Arteta went straight to Ozil, frequently on the receiving end of criticism from fans in recent months, and congratulated him for his hard work.

The former "Assist King", as Arsenal fans once called him, played the full 90 minutes and completed an impressive 42 of his 49 passes against United.

Seven of those were killer passes in the final third, leading to chances against a helpless United defence.

Not only that, he took 56 touches and won possession back from Man Utd TEN times - his most in a Premier League game in three years and the most of any player on the Emirates turf.

Ozil appeared to be everyone on the evening - covering a game-high 7.2 miles - and at full-time, Arteta raced over to him and said: "Well done. Well played!"

Rio Ferdinand suggested Ozil's hot form is all down to confidence, saying he looks the happiest he's been in 18 months.

Speaking on BT Sport, the ex-United defender said: "The pictures we saw there when the whistle went with Arteta going on to the pitch - I've not seen Ozil smile like that for about 18 months.

"That tells you a story, he's enjoying going to training, he's enjoying playing.

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"It's freshened the place up, it went maybe stale under the previous manager, they maybe lacked belief in the manager's tactics and his methods.

"We've both been there under different managers where you think, 'I don't believe in what this guy's doing' and that takes an edge off a performance subconsciously.

"This kid here [Nicolas Pepe], he looked like a new player. That comes from confidence with the new manager."