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GUNNER BEAT YOU . . . Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud (left) wheels away jubilantly with Manchester City defender Otamendi crestfallen as the Gunners took control of proceedings just before the break during their English Premiership match at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night. — Mailonline

LONDON. — Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger heralded Mesut Ozil after the German play-maker rose from his sickbed to inspire his team to victory over English Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

Ozil teed up first-half goals for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night as Arsenal secured a 2-1 win that left them four points above City and two points below leaders Leicester City.

Ozil (27) now has 15 assists for the campaign – just three fewer than Cesc Fabregas’s league-leading tally from last season – and Wenger revealed afterwards that he had spent most of the previous week in bed.

“He had a chest infection for the week and he was in bed, basically,” Wenger said.

“He had only one training session yesterday (Sunday). So for a guy who could not prepare well, he has done extremely well physically.”

Despite Ozil’s role in the build-up, Walcott’s goal was primarily his own work, the England forward cutting inside his man from the left and curling a glorious right-foot shot inside the right-hand post from 20 yards.

But the assist for Giroud’s goal, in first-half stoppage time, was vintage Ozil, the former Real Madrid man sliding a pass into the path of the Arsenal centre-forward, who drilled a low shot between Joe Hart’s legs.

“At the end of the day you need one guy who gives the ball to the one who scores the goal,” Wenger told his post-game press conference.

“In our team, most of the time, Ozil is this player. The guys who make you win. And he is that.”

“There is exceptional life in this team,” said Wenger, whose side visit Southampton on Boxing Day.

“Every win strengthens your belief and even more in a big game like that. We have something really special there.”

Wenger also revealed that striker Alexis Sanchez has sustained a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury that is likely to keep him out of action for three weeks.

In fact, Arsenal will be without Sanchez for the entire festive period after he received a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, Wenger revealed on Monday.

“Sanchez, I think he will be back around January 10. For the Christmas period, don’t count him,” Wenger told reporters at the Emirates Stadium after his side’s 2-1 win over Manchester City.

Sanchez had been due to make his return against City after missing three games with a hamstring problem sustained in the 1-1 draw at Norwich City, but Wenger said he had suffered a “very slight” setback in training.

“He was planned to be on the bench tonight (Monday) and he’s so keen that he got a little pain,” Wenger said. “We didn’t take a gamble at all.”

Chile international Sanchez looks set to miss league games against Southampton, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, as well as Arsenal’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to Sunderland on January 9.

City threatened to snatch an improbable point when Yaya Toure languidly stroked a left-foot shot into Petr Cech’s top-right corner with eight minutes to play, but by then the damage had already been done.

With captain Vincent Kompany still absent due to a calf injury, City looked vulnerable at centre-back, where Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi once again toiled.

City have kept one clean sheet in the nine league games Kompany has missed, compared to seven in the eight games he has played, and manager Manuel Pellegrini admitted that his side are “conceding too many goals”.

There was also tacit acknowledgement that City, who have already lost five times this season, will struggle to mount a sustained title challenge without Kompany in their ranks.

“We hope that Vincent will return back soon,” Pellegrini said.

“So with Vincent returning to the team, with David (Silva) and Sergio (Aguero) playing normally every week, I suppose we are going to continue being an important team in the fight for the title.”

Confirmation that Pep Guardiola is to leave Bayern Munich has only heightened speculation that Pellegrini’s days at the Etihad Stadium are numbered, but he said that he had no trouble dealing with the rumours.

“No, it’s not difficult,” he said. “It’s very easy. You must be concentrated and focused on your work.” — AFP.