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LONDON. — Shkodran Mustafi has revealed he can get on Mesut Ozil’s back at times. Arsenal’s star midfielder smashed his first career hat-trick against Ludogorets in the Gunners’ 6-0 Champions League romp at the Emirates on Wednesday night.He now has six goals so far this season, only three less than his total for the whole of the last campaign.But despite the stand-out performance, Mustafi says there are times when he will pick out the errors in his compatriot’s game.

“Is he under-appreciated? It’s nothing that I can say now because sometimes I have to criticise him as well, because sometimes that’s how football is,” he said.

“Everyone makes mistakes and we have to be professional with it. Sometimes we criticise ourselves the most, it’s not the people out there that criticise us, it’s ourselves who criticise us the most.

“Because you want to play well, you want to win games, you don’t want to make mistakes, and if you make one you are the first one who gets angry. You cannot be without errors.

“But I think he’s a fantastic player, he helps us a lot. No, he’s a quality player. He has all the qualities to score. If you find him in the final third with a ball on his left foot there’s always danger.”

Ozil has yet to agree a new contract with Arsenal as he heads into the final 18 months of his current deal. But he walked off with a match ball signed by his team-mates on Wednesday night.

The win leaves Arsenal sitting pretty at the top of Group A, and with main rivals Paris St-Germain still to visit the Emirates there is every chance they could finish top too.

Mustafi said: “We can’t look too far ahead. There are too many games still to play. It is not about going top — that is a consequence of the work you have to do.

“This was one more game to show how hungry we are, how much confidence we have in the dressing room and I think we did that quite well.”

Meanwhile, Mustafi highlighted the need for consistency after Arsenal’s Champions League win over Ludogorets on Wednesday night.

Ozil bagged a second-half hat-trick after goals from Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the Gunners cruised to a 6-0 win over the Bulgarian Champions at the Emirates.

The impressive win, which sends Arsene Wenger’s side top of Group A with three games played, was their sixth on the bounce across all competitions.

And although Mustafi is delighted with how things are going right now, the summer arrival from Valencia ultimately wants to see the Gunners challenging for titles at the back end of the season.

“That’s (consistency) what makes the difference between great teams,” he said, when asked whether they could keep up their current form.

“It’s not about having all the one month, two month performances and then go down.

“It is a marathon and we have to fight until the end and if you are there, the most difficult thing is to stay up there.

“We have to try, we have to focus on the details, be concentrated, we need all the team, we need all the players and in the end, hopefully we will be successful.” Mustafi is likely to be involved when Arsenal host Middlesbrough in the Premier League tomorrow.

The north London outfit currently sit second in the table, level on points with early leaders Manchester City. — The Daily Star.