Arsenal bounced back from two defeats inside a week with a convincing 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday after the out-of-sorts Mesut Ozil answered his many critics by producing a match-winning performance.

The German wore the captain’s armband despite being left out of the starting 11 in recent weeks by coach Unai Emery who was happy with his player’s response, playing a leading role in two of their goals.

“He played like we need [him to] today,” the Spaniard reflected afterwards. “His skills, his commitment was very good. He helped us. I said we needed Mesut and today he was there for us.”

It’s proved a piece of managerial mastery from Emery to continually back his man throughout a bad patch of form.

The Gunners were ahead inside 15 minutes and it was their captain that fans can thank for giving them the half-time lead for the first time this season.

Using the vision that made him such a success at Real Madrid, he carved the Burnley defence open with a single pass that took out six of their defenders. On the end of the pass was Sead Kolasinac, who pulled it back for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to slot home.

Not long after the restart, Aubameyang doubled his side’s lead as well as his own tally. A rapid counterattack spearheaded by Kolasinac ended in the Gabon striker exploiting the space and walloping the ball past Joe Hart for his 14th goal of the season.

Burnley were patient in possession and always looked dangerous in the final third utilising their ability to string passes together. With an hour on the clock, Ashley Barnes pulled one back after the hosts failed to clear their line after a scramble inside the box.

Sean Dyche was indignant afterwards, believing firmly that his side were wronged on multiple occasions by the referee. Kevin Long was denied a penalty by man in middle, Kevin Friend, despite appearing to be pushed in the back by Kolasinac.

Dyche said: “Where do you want to start with the decisions? Shall we start with the 61 games without a penalty? And a clear double-handed push in the back on Kevin Long. That’s a pretty good place to start, I think.”

It was an altogether scrappy display from the Gunners defence, who have only kept three clean sheets in the league this season. In mitigation, they have been ravaged by injury and, with Hector Bellerin already sidelined, Nacho Monreal was forced off in the first half due to injury.

Arsenal’s inefficiency and wastefulness in the final third made for a nervy last 25 minutes for the home side. Alex Iwobi eventually scored the third to round off a very important win for his side after feeding once again off the support of Ozil.

The midfielder picked up the ball and dribbled dangerously into the box, gliding like a red arrow through Burnley’s mountainous back line. When his initial shot was blocked, it fell to Iwobi, only on the field for 10 minutes, and he was able to rifle it home.

Next up for Arsenal is the Boxing Day trip to Brighton where last season they were trounced 2-1 in what proved the beginning of the end for Arsene Wenger.