Mesut Özil getting rest where he can find it

Mesut Özil's 2015-16 season so far has been basically what we were all expecting since he signed for Arsenal in 2013. Not that he was bad, of course – he was great, just in a more subtle way – but he's pretty obviously the best player in the league right now, and when you have a player of his talents, sometimes you like to see him beat people over the head with it.

So you can imagine that Özil's played a lot this year, and he's starting to tire a bit. But while he hasn't been rested for games much lately, Arsène Wenger is doing his best to make sure Özil's limbs don't all fall off. According to the manager, Özil basically isn't training right now in an attempt to keep him as fresh as possible.

Mesut, I gave him a one-week holiday during the international break. At the moment he doesn't practice a lot, we rest him a lot between the games. He is a guy who once the basic fitness is there between the games, he wants to play. There are types of players, sometimes the most technical players, it looks like it demands less energy for them to play – it is just natural for them.

With how well Özil's playing and the total lack of other options at the number 10 position, there's really nothing else that can be done. Thankfully it's working so far – hopefully it continues working until we can get some other guys healthy.