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Ozil - Goal my 'thank you' to the fans

Mesut Ozil says scoring his first Arsenal goal in the 2-0 win against Napoli was his way of "thanking the fans".

The German playmaker opened his account for the Club when he superbly side-footed Aaron Ramsey's pass beyond Pepe Reina from the edge of the area after just eight minutes at Emirates Stadium.

Ozil's vision and guile were key components of Arsenal's outstanding first-half display. The 24-year-old combined incisively with the likes of Ramsey and Olivier Giroud and was proud of the team's performance.

"It's a really nice feeling - especially to score at home. You could see that the fans really supported us up until the last minute"

"It's a really nice feeling - especially to score at home," Ozil told Arsenal Player. "You could see that the fans really supported us up until the last minute.

"What was important was that we won the game. Of course I'm pleased to have scored, especially at home. It was my way of thanking the fans.

"Our aim is to play attractive and successful football. We did that tonight and have taken another step. We knew that it would be a really difficult win but we were deserved winners and we could have scored more. I'm really proud of the team."

According to Opta, Ozil has provided more assists in the Champions League than any other player in the last three years. He set up Giroud's strike against Napoli and thanked his team-mates for helping him to settle so quickly at Arsenal.

"Every player wants to score goals but everyone knows that I like assisting goals too," Ozil said. "What's important for us is that we take the next step forward as a team. We want to keep on developing.

"We did that tonight, we took a step forward and won the game. Now we're going to concentrate on the next match.

"You can see in training how technically good this team is and that showed on the pitch tonight too. The team supports me so well. We've got some great players in our ranks. We showed tonight how good we are on the ball. They make life easier for me on the pitch and I'm thankful to them for that."

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