Nearly £80m Ozil and Mata went head-to-head at the Emirates... but Mata's no match in the battle of playmakers

It was the battle of the record signing playmakers and there was only one winner.
Mesut Ozil, Arsenal's £42m man, outshone Juan Mata.
Manchester United's £37m midfielder was ineffectual, failing to get the ball in dangerous positions and create chances for his team-mates.
Ozil, whose performance was under the microscope after a series of poor games, fared better.
The German was involved a lot more in the final third and created far more chances for his team-mates.

The former Real Madrid maestro created seven chances for Olivier Giroud and Co to put away, whereas Manchester United's recent acquisition only created one chance for front two Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie to convert.
Mata's display in such a big game might lead Chelsea fans to concede that Jose Mourinho may actually have made the correct call when offloading the Spaniard - even though they were left baffled at the time.
The competition to be the pass master was also very one-sided as Ozil had more than double the amount of successful passes than Mata, with 67 compared with the United man's 31.

Mata may have played 15 minutes fewer than his opponent but it's hard to believe that he would have bridged the gap in that time, especially with Arsenal in the ascendancy.

All in all, young midfielder Adnan Januzaj must be wondering why it was he that lost his place in the starting XI to Mata, having easily been United's best player this campaign.

As for Ozil, he could be forgiven for wondering why on earth his manager didn't buy another top class striker to put away the chances created by the Germany star.