LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not consider resting midfielder Mesut Ozil for his side's trip to Villa Park, as he was eager to show his faith in the German midfielder after a recent bout of criticism for his performances.
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Ozil turned in a sparkling performance in the Midlands as he was restored to a central midfield role and pulled the strings for Arsenal as they blew Villa away with a trio of first half goals in quick succession, with Wenger delighted by the display of his 42.4 million pound signing.
"It was at the point where he we had to show him confidence is there," Wenger told reporters after the 3-0 win. "He showed as well that he can respond under scrutiny.
"He can play everywhere. He prefers to play in the middle, but I find you 10 more players in my squad who want to play in the middle.
"I have many offensive players and you have to find the right balance. It's not always easy. We gave [Alexis] Sanchez a rest because he played many games and we have plenty of experienced players who are not playing at the moment and they are top quality."
Wenger was also full of praise for his striker Danny Welbeck, who scored his first Arsenal goal in the rush of action that decided the game shortly after the half-hour mark.
"He scored a similar goal to the one he scored in Switzerland, a cross from the left and he pushed it in," added Wenger, reflecting on the first of Welbeck's strikes in England's Euro 2016 qualifier earlier this month.
"The timing of his run is good. He had a very good performance today. His ball retention was good and he had a good all round game for a central striker. Knowing the media, I'm glad he got his goal as quickly as possible because you talk about this."
Villa boss Paul Lambert confirmed his plans for the game were seriously disrupted by a bug that has swept through his dressing room and forced him to change his team line-up moments before kick-off.
"We have had so much bad luck this week and even before the game. A virus has been going around and we are going to have to shut the training ground down for a couple of days," stated Lambert, who admitted he had also been affected by the sickness bug.
"Darren Bent pulled out this morning, Nathan Baker pulled out this morning. [Brad] Guzan has had it, [Fabian] Delph has had it. Andy Weimann was sick at half-time. [Ashley] Westwood was sick in the warm-up.
"The lads were running on empty in the second half, so I can't sit here and be critical of the team. It is a tough game if everyone is 100 percent fit, but what happened in the warm up and at half time made it difficult
"Despite all that, if we had scored when we had the chances early on, it might have given us something to hang on to. We take our medicine from this game and we go again. Ten points from five games is still a good return."