Arsene Wenger pins hopes on Mesut Ozil

London: Record signing Mesut Ozil has been tipped by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to show how good he is in Tuesday night’s last-16, second-leg match at Bayern Munich.

The German had looked jaded in recent weeks as Arsenal slipped from the top of the English Premier League and he hit a personal low in the 2-0 Champions League home loss to Bayern last month, where he had his ninth minute penalty saved by international team mate Manuel Neur.

But Wenger said his expensive summer recruit from Real Madrid has recovered from his psychological and physical travails and can display his true ability on Tuesday on his return to his homeland.

“It was not only physical, it was mental. He had the feeling he let the team down at a very important moment of the game. That affected his performance very much,” Wenger said.

“Psychologically sometimes the wound is like a physical one. You can talk and talk and talk but it takes time. You just have to leave it to time. I think he is over it. He has a good opportunity to show on Tuesday night how good he is.”

Arsenal will be trying to overturn the 2-0 deficit against a Bayern side in imperious form and who won a record 16th consecutive Bundesliga match on Saturday.

Wenger’s side did win 2-0 at the Allianz Arena at the same stage last season but went out to Bayern on away goals having lost 3-1 at home.

Any hope the English side have of progressing will depend heavily on their playmaker, who made a blistering start to life in North London following his 42.5 million pounds ($71.06 million) move from Real Madrid as he inspired Arsenal to the top of the English table.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has said Bayern Munich must ignore their first-leg lead when they host Arsenal on Tuesday in the Champions League.

Holders Bayern host the Gunners in the Champions League’s last 16, second-leg tie at Munich’s Allianz Arena with a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in London.

Bayern are all too aware that in an almost identical situation last March they lost 2-0 to Arsenal in Munich having won 3-1 in London at the same stage in the competition.

Guardiola said: “We need to forget what happened in London.

“If we try to manage the result, based on the first-leg victory, then we will have big problems.

“Everybody thinks that after the 2-0 win in London, they (Arsenal) have no chance, but that is our problem.

“Arsenal are a very good team with a lot of quality in midfield, especially with (Mesut) Ozil, (Mikel) Arteta and others.”

“We have learnt our lesson, that was a good warning,” added Bayern’s Germany winger Thomas Mueller after Munich only progressed on away goals 12 months ago.

“I am not just going to just assume that we won’t lose 2-0 again.”