Five games into the season - six by the end of the weekend - is no time to be talking about relegation battles and title triumphs. It is, however, about time to talk about form.

At the top of the table, Manchester City’s form has been perfect so far, but their one Premier League clean sheet is a worry. When you’re averaging three goals per game, though, it really doesn’t matter that much. Then at the bottom, there’s Stoke City, who have only scored one Premier League goal in September. But when you’re averaging almost three goals conceded per game, well that matters a great deal.

But whilst some of the more obvious blips and peaks in form have been seized upon over the past few weeks, some have gone unnoticed.

Taking a look at FanDuel data from this week - the latest in our weekly look at the Premier League through the lens of the comprehensive fantasy football game - there’s one stat that jumps out. Whilst we know all about the travails of Manchester United and their record signing Paul Pogba, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal have been given a relatively free pass since the opening weekend of the season.

That makes sense, given the start. Arsenal’s dismal opening day defeat to Liverpool was mitigated by the fact that the Gunners were suffering a defensive injury crisis, whilst Laurent Koscielny was left out to recover from his Euro 2016 exertions. Since then, they’re unbeaten, scoring nine goals in their last three games.

Yet despite the upturn in form, Arsenal seem to be missing their star creator, somewhat. We know all about Paul Pogba’s problems in the midfield at Manchester United. The fact that Jose Mourinho seems intent on playing his record signing alongside Marouane Fellaini, and the fact that what Pogba has shown so far isn’t what we expect from an all-action midfielder of his quality. Or, frankly, a world record signing.

But what about Mesut Ozil’s problems?

Data from FanDuel shows that his average points total in the league so far is even worse than that of Pogba.

Both have played four games so far this season, both missed the opening day. But it seems that, even though Arsenal have been winning games and scoring goals, it’s not their record signing who is providing them.

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For Pogba, though, you get the feeling that even if he does play badly for a few weeks, a change in formation at United will be enough to squeeze some more performance out of him. For Ozil, though, you don’t really see that happening. Not this weekend, at any rate.

At this point in the season, we’re starting to see form settle down, but after his own exertions at Euro 2016, it may well be that Ozil is simply feeling his way into the season and getting back to his best.

But whether or not we see it this weekend is debatable, and probably depends quite a bit on Arsene Wenger’s team selection.

Arsenal face Chelsea at the Emirates, and Arsene Wenger’s now-traditional 4-2-3-1 formation would see Ozil play in behind a striker if he’s deployed in the same way as he usually is at Arsenal. Ozil likes to roam in space behind his striker, but against Chelsea that will be made more difficult as that’s the space covered by the incredibly effective N’Golo Kante.

It may be that the Burnley game after Chelsea is where Ozil returns to form. That game comes after a couple of weeks to feel his way into the season, a couple of games under his belt, and he’ll be up against a team who are going to pose him the challenge of breaking them down, rather than pressing and tackling him. Burnley’s flat 4-4-2 also means they won’t have a midfield anchor to deny him space - just two banks of four sitting solidly in front of him.

On the other hand, Ozil posted a meagre 1.25 FanDuel points in his first game of this season. Against Leicester.

So it may be a few weeks before Ozil hits his best form, but with Kevin de Bruyne and Sadio Mane performing solidly for Manchester City and Liverpool, maybe you should look to other clubs than Arsenal and Manchester United to add record signings to your fantasy team.

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