Arsenal have lost both of their previous two Premier League matches and Mesut Ozil has not been part of either of these games for the Gunners.
Arteta admitted that Mesut Ozil was left out of the matchday squad against Manchester City for tactical reasons but the German was absent against Brighton as well. A match which badly needed his vision and skills.
And speaking after the match, Ian Wright has admitted that Ozil has been a bad miss, especially vs a team like Brighton where the Gunners clearly lacked creativity in and around the midfield area.
“The midfield, you have to say, is not firing in the sense of productivity, creativity,” Wright said on Match of the Day, as reported.
“Obviously Mesut Ozil didn’t even get on the pitch. It’s a really worrying sign when you consider that Arsenal do need to create stuff.
“You’ve got one of the most potent strikers in the league [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang] upfront and he’s feeding off scraps.
“It’s a worrying time and Mikel really knows he’s got a massive job on his hands.”
Will Mesut Ozil start vs Southampton?
We can understand that Mesut Ozil might be on his way out of the club this summer which is one of the reasons why Mikel Arteta is not looking to use him for the remainder of the season.
But the German earns £350,000 per week at the Emirates and the Gunners can seriously use his expertise to break down teams who sit back and try to defend.
So after shunning Mesut Ozil in the past two games, we think Arteta will name him in the first XI vs Southampton, more so if Matteo Guendouzi is handed a ban for his incident against Brighton. But there’s no denying that the German has fallen down the pecking order at the club.
