Arsene Wenger publicly defended under-fire Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, stating that “He cares much more than people think,” according to a statement on the club website (www.arsenal.com).

The Arsenal manager spoke after the West Ham game about Ozil “Being hit hard by us going out of the Champions League”, and the manager clarified that comment in his pre-Crystal Palace press conference.

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“He is very ambitious and he wants to win the Champions League,” Wenger said. “He’s come out many times saying that. If you look at the two games and take the first 45 minutes of the two games, we were qualified but then went out in such an emphatic way.”

“It was difficult to take for everybody and maybe even more for him because it’s a big part of his ambition.”

"He cares. What I wanted to say in that is that people often reproach him by saying that he doesn’t care because of his style of play, but he cares much more than people think he does."

The German midfielder was superb in the Gunners 3-0 win over West Ham and fans will want more of the same as the club seeks to keep it top-four hopes alive with a win over a dangerous Crystal Palace side on Monday night.