Martin Keown: 'Mesut Ozil thrived without Alexis Sanchez'

Arsenal legend Martin Keown believes that Mesut Ozil thrived in the absence of Alexis Sanchez as the Gunners beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday.

Ozil opened the scoring for his side on 33 minutes, before supplying Danny Welbeck for the second, and Keown thought that the Germany international was able to flourish without his Chilean teammate in the side.

He told BBC Sport: "With Alexis Sanchez not playing, the team was dancing for his boots. Sanchez will obviously come back in at some point but Ozil was magnificent in the central role today.

"Ozil was magnificent in the central role, he pressed all the right buttons and orchestrated all of Arsenal's best attacks."

Arsene Wenger's side are currently fourth in the Premier League.