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Emery gives thoughts on Ozil’s performance and if he’ll feature for Arsenal vs Wolves

By on October 31, 2019

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Unai Emery says Mesut Ozil played ‘very well’ during Arsenal’s 5-5 draw with Liverpool and is in the frame to feature against Wolves on Saturday.

Ozil has found his himself exiled from the first team for much of the season as the German playmaker had only featured in two Arsenal games in all competitions before last night’s trip to Anfield.

His last appearance came with an impressive performance during Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the previous round of the Carabao Cup back in September but despite his positive display that night, Ozil was axed from the squad for the following month.

However, he was recalled for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Liverpool and Ozil put-in an excellent performance with the 31-year-old oozing class during a thrilling 5-5 draw.

Mesut played his part in Arsenal’s first and third goals before setting up Ainsley Maitland-Niles for our fourth with a sublime back-heel. Having Ozil on the pitch certainly added some much needed creativity to the team but he also worked hard so it was a great all-round display.

He was eventually replaced by Matteo Guendouzi in the 65th minute in what was a pre-planned substitution as they wanted to protect Ozil’s fitness, which made sense considering how little football he’s played.

Speaking after the ridiculous 5-5 draw, Emery said he thought Ozil played ‘very well’ and confirmed he has a chance to feature during Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Wolves at the Emirates on Saturday.

Emery told Arsenal.com:

on Mesut Ozil’s performance…
I think he played very well. Tonight, you’ve seen he is a skilful player in the team and he was very positive every time and I think he played a very good match. We spoke before the match, and we made the decision in the second half to take him off because he hasn’t played for a little while and we want to keep his fitness as he was very tired but for him it was great to play 60/65 minutes.

on his further inclusion… 
Yes he will feature. We have a match on Saturday and we will look at the possibility to use him again alongside other players and this is the way sometimes.

It’s good to see the manager acknowledging Ozil’s terrific performance from last night but it won’t mean a thing if he immediately axes him from the squad at the weekend.

For me, Ozil should start against Wolves on Saturday. I’ve said many times that our midfield should be Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi but Ozil now deserves to start alongside those two.

With the Granit Xhaka situation to consider, it’s going to be interesting to see how Emery lines-up this weekend but it would be a travesty if Ozil isn’t at least on the bench.