Arsenal beat Leicester City in the third round of the EFL Cup and everyone was certain before the match that Mesut Ozil will get to feature in this match.
Mesut Ozil has not been getting game time in the Premier League under Mikel Arteta for several months now which is why a third round cup tie was the perfect opportunity for the manager to rest some of his regular players and use the German.
But surprisingly, the playmaker did not even make it to the matchday squad on Wednesday night and the way, Arteta chose to divert his selection questions after the game, it’s more or less certain that Mesut Ozil is no longer going to feature for the Gunners this season.
He said after the match: “We don’t discuss things are happening behind closed doors, but he played really well tonight.
“It is difficult for others as well who weren’t involved in the Premier League and they didn’t play tonight either. We have a squad of 26, 27 players at the moment and we cannot give all of them playing time.
“You can see that the players that we are changing and using every week, that it is very difficult – not just for Mesut but the rest of the players – for some to make the squad. Every week, we try to pick the right players.
“I am really happy with the performance of the players here, how difficult they are making things for the coaching staff to select the squad.
“The team is evolving and you can see the level they are achieving, so this is where we are at at the moment. We want to evolve more, play better and compete better, so we need to keep maintaining that trend.”
Mesut Ozil is still the highest earning player in the Arsenal squad right now and many pundits think Arteta should try and use the German sparingly instead of shunning him out completely.
But the Arsenal manager has proved that his team can perform pretty solidly even without the presence of the former Real Madrid man which is why no fan is too worried about what happens to Ozil now.
