The Arsenal midfielder says the club is ready for a fight to close the season with rivals lurking.
Mesut Ozil says Arsenal are happy to be above Tottenham as the Premier League race heats up.
The Gunners topped Newcastle on Monday to leap over their London rivals into third place.
Spurs currently sit third in the league, having been seen as a competitor for Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race earlier this year.
But now Arsenal are above their fierce rivals, and Ozil is more than happy to be in pole position for a Champions League spot heading into the final months of the season.
“Our aim is to get into the top four. Of course we’re happy that we’re in front of Tottenham. It’s always a big competition with them,” Ozil said following Monday’s win.
“If we play like today, we have a few more games in front of us and we want to win them. We want to take all the points to get into the top four at the end of the season.”
Ozil is seemingly more involved now than he was earlier in the season, having had to work his way into manager Unai Emery’s graces.
The German put in a solid shift in Monday’s victory, and he says he’s looking to push on more in the season’s final weeks.
“We are very happy. Our aim tonight was to take the three points and we played very well,” he said.
“Congratulations to the whole team. We are very happy.
“My work is to give everything on the pitch, like today. I only want to help my team-mates to win the game.
“I think we played very well as a team, not just me. It was a team effort. As I said, congratulations.
“I think we are now third. It was a long time that we had to wait for a game, so now we can go and relax at home now.”
Next up for Arsenal is a visit to Everton on Sunday before a battle with Napoli in the Europa League quarter-finals.
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