Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Arsenal FC Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Kieran Gibbs has claimed Mesut Ozil has “raised the club” and will turn them into winners this season.

German midfielder Ozil is still adjusting to life in the Premier League but Gibbs insists his very presence has given the whole dressing room a lift.

The Gunners have endured a near nine-year trophy drought but are top of their Champions League group and lead the Premier League, putting them in their best position yet to end the hunt for silverware.

And full-back Gibbs says club-record £42million summer signing Ozil has played a major part in their brilliant start to the campaign and has got the whole squad believing they will win something this season.

Gibbs said: “Mesut Ozil has raised the club, raised the dressing room.

“A player like that will give you a lift. We’re happy that he’s there. He gives you something extra, something special. I’m happy to be working with him.

“It’s still really early, but I think everyone can see that there’s something special that we can do.

“A trophy is the objective, obviously. But a lot of the trophy competitions domestically haven’t really started.

“But we know we want to win something this season – it’s really important and we feel we can do it. There’s a lot of confidence in the dressing room and in the squad.

(Image: Shaun Botterill)

“When we lost on the opening day to Aston Villa, we showed how much we wanted to come back and do something special this season.

“We had to switch on quickly to make sure we qualified for the Champions League. That helped us playing in Istanbul. It kick started the season.

“Now we can go and push on and win something for the manager, for the fans and the club. We feel as if we have got something special and that we can do it this year.”

Gibbs has now established himself in the first team, having fended off competition from Spain international Nacho Monreal.

The 24-year-old, whose twin brother Jaydon plays for Aldershot (his mum is also a twin, and so is one of his grandmothers), feels a debt of gratitude towards Gunners boss Arsene Wenger for giving him a chance – even though it was an unexpected one.

The midfielder turned defender had zero experience as a left-back before when he made his first-team debut in that position away at Sheffield United in 2007.

Gibbs recalled: “Literally, my first ever game at left-back was for the first team. I’d never played there before. I still don’t really know how it came about! I was told the day before because we had a few injuries.

“It was in the Carling Cup. I didn’t have too much time to think about it. We won 3-0 and it was after that the manager said he wanted me to play there from now on.

(Image: Getty)

“He (Wenger) has got something special. When you’re first coming into the team, he’s got an ability to make you feel like you deserve to be there. He doesn’t have to do a lot because of who he is.

“If he tells you something, whatever he tells you, if he pays you compliments then you think, ‘It’s Arsene Wenger telling me this...’ You go home and you think, ‘Wow, Arsene Wenger has told me this.’ You think he must be right and you take it on board.

“He’s not a manager who is constantly on your back, he just lets you take it in and learn for yourself. He always tells you to play free, do what you feel that the game deserves. That has helped me a lot.

“I’m quite like that as a person anyway. If someone tells me to do something, and they tell you in a certain way, I react differently to if someone tells you just to get on with it and let you learn.

“He tends to just throw you in and learn by yourself. I’m my own biggest critic so I will know what I need to do and what I don’t need to do.

“He can read someone’s personality as well. He will leave you when you need to be left and tell you when you need to be told.”

Read the full interview in Rabona, a new football magazine available for £5 in stores and from rabonamag.com.