In Oslo, Özil, in the No 10 shirt he has long coveted at last after Lukas Podolski's retirement, set up Thomas Müller's first goal with a cute, cushioned left-foot pass that nutmegged Jonas Svensson and ran the game with his passing from a position in front of Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira. With Julian Draxler, Müller and Mario Götze darting all around the Norway penalty area and exchanging positions with stupefying speed, Özil's vision in finding them and courage in looking to locate them in tight positions, instead of hitting far safer passes out to the full-backs flying up the flanks, exemplified a playmaking performance of commendable vitality and maturity.

Will Mkhitaryan miss out?

Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed Armenia's 1-0 defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen on Sunday and the national side's captain was already back in Manchester as the match unfolded. United's £27m attacking midfielder had been injured in the 38th minute of a friendly against the Czech Republic on Wednesday in Ostrava when he ran straight into Marek Suchy after knocking the ball past him.