Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has dismissed criticism from Paul Scholes for Mesut Ozil.Manchester United legend Scholes claimed in his newspaper column last night that Ozil often "looks like he is going through the motions".

"I think a player like Paul Scholes would have loved to play with Mesut Ozil," said the Arsenal manager.

"We are happy to go as far as we can, and we want to win the title. We suffered a lot after pre-season from World Cup syndrome and players who had been out for a long time. The points we are behind today we lost up to October. Since October we have not lost any points on anybody and I believe we're now very consistent.

"Having said that, I believe it's a wrong statement about Ozil. He works very hard and is a great player.

"Does he have a point to prove? Yes, and he knows that. We are all in a job where in every single game we have to prove a point.

"I believe he has the quality, puts a lot of effort in to help the team and works much harder than his style shows. You can be cheated a little bit by his style of play, because he is fluent, easy, subtle and does not look like he puts the effort in but he does.

"I knew he had a good physical potential but did not know how good he was physically. He has a huge physical potential."