Is Mesut Ozil fading-off?

Amid the excitement that greeted his August arrival, Mesut Ozil felt like more than just another player. Here was a symbol of Arsenal's cash-rich future. This was a signing to sweep away the gloom of that opening day defeat to Aston Villa and carry the Gunners into the heart of a genuine title race. So it is somehow appropriate that Ozil's waning form should be intertwined with the team's fading dream of topping the Premier League table. 

Things could hardly have started better with Ozil a conspicuously transformative figure in Arsenal's turnaround. An assist on debut at Sunderland was followed by two more on his home bow. Indeed, the seven chances created in that performance against Stoke remains the most by anyone at the Emirates Stadium so far this season. The German was widely regarded as the catalyst for a fine run of form that saw Arsenal win six and draw one of his first seven Premier League games for the club.

Of course, statistics only tell part of the story. To see Ozil in action is art not science. Ballet, poetry, take your pick. There is the sublime touch and expert weight of pass. The serene movements as he glides around the pitch, barely seeming to leave an imprint on the turf. But the rhythm is not flowing as it once did. The end-product of goals and assists is proving a chore rather than an inevitable consequence of his brilliance. The question that needs answering is simple: "Why?"

Perhaps the starting point of the search for an explanation comes from looking back to Ozil's three-year stay at Real Madrid. The former Werder Bremen playmaker was a popular figure at the Bernabeu with supporters so incensed by talk of his sale that calls for him to stay at the club were even a feature of Gareth Bale's stage-managed welcoming party. Cristiano Ronaldo was candid in his belief that Ozil's exit would be a

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Shroud of Turin: Could Quake Explain Face of Jesus?

The authenticity of the Shroud of Turin has been in question for centuries and scientific investigations over the last few decades have only seemed to muddle the debate. Is the revered cloth a miracle or an elaborate hoax?

 

Now, a study claims neutron emissions from an ancient earthquake that rocked Jerusalem could have created the iconic image, as well as messed up the radiocarbon levels that later suggested the shroud was a medieval forgery. But other scientists say this newly proposed premise leaves some major questions unanswered.

The Shroud of Turin, which bears a faint image of a man's face and torso, is said to be the fabric that covered Jesus' body after his crucifixion in A.D. 33. Though the Catholic Church doesn't have an official position on the cloth, the relic is visited by tens of thousands of worshippers at the Turin Cathedral in Italy each year.

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