With Arsene Wenger currently having to do without the brilliant Alexis Sanchez and other key players like Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, his chances of guiding Arsenal to the Premier League title are resting even more heavily on the talented shoulders of the German international play maker Mesut Ozil.
Despite that, Wenger is planning to give our number 11 some time off according to a Daily Star report. While Ozil is in the form of his life, the manager would clearly love to keep him in the side but although the German is showing no sign of fatigue, recent events appear to have given the boss no choice. After all, Cazorla was showing no sign of fatigue and neither was Francis Coquelin.
So imagine the uproar that would be caused if Ozil was to pick up a long term injury as well? In that way you could say that Arsenal cannot afford to not give Ozil a decent break from football, and Wenger is planning to do it over the busy festive period when the fixture list makes an injury even more likely.
The question is though, can we afford to rest such a key player for this crucial period of games? I would suggest that it all depends on a certain Jack Wilshere, as according to the injury prognosis which you can see on the Just Arsenal special injuries page, the England star is expected back in action before the end of the year.
In theory that means that Jack will be available for the trip to Southampton on Boxing day. Wenger must surely keep Ozil in the side for the game before that against Man City but after that he could be set for a couple of weeks off. That would see the German miss the games against the Saints, Bournemouth and Newcastle and if the boss wanted to give him three weeks off he could miss the FA cup clash with Sunderland as well.
Alexis Sanchez is due back about the same time as Wilshere, but will these two be able to help Arsenal stay on track while Ozil has a break?
Arsene Wenger last week ‘Players are there to play and not to be rested’
Yup certainly..as far as Wenger is concerned, Ozil will rest enough in the treatment room that he we all know he will eventually end up in.. You know, like Sanchez, Koscielny, cazorla..and all the other victims of Wenger’s hardline stances.
Ozil shoes is to big for Wiltshire , When You People will Realise that Wiltshire is Just overated player?How many goals or assist he had in last 2 seasons?we miss him ?No we need him? No what we need is a good player not a average like wilshere, if we are serious about winning EPL we need top players like Wenger said who will improve the quality not downgrade it .
Completely Off topic :
What’s funny is I was on Chelsea’s Fans channel on Youtube to troll them,and they are actually praying that we beat Villa,Bournemouth,Newcastle so that they don’t get relegated..HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!
in a dilemma right now ……..should we gift Bournemouth, newcastle and Villa a win and send these mugs into relegation? …..yes ……no……yes…..no ……..Hopefully, They’d find relegation emselves and watch us crowned champions!!! L()L
please what possible scorelines see arsenal qualify today?…don’t really get it
anything other than 1-0/2-1 (Win)
Does anyone know how much distance covered in the Sunderland game? I feel like he ran 10 miles no joke
Maybe when Wilshere returns then we can afford to rest iur talis man.
Yeah, That makes sense. ..
2 week’s later and Jack will be back in his chair! ?
Good old Jack.. he’s as good as an egg timer.
With Sanchez, Rosicky, Cazorla and Wilshire out who else do we have who’s a creator?
Ramsey?
I think Ramsey could play the #10 role if needed but then who plays alongside our DM player?
Hurry back Jack!
Shopping in Jan please Arsene.
Yeah lets put out a weakened team because that really worked earlier in the group stage.
What planet do people live on. Sanchez has a hamstring problem however Cazorla and Coquelin both suffered impact injuries! That is nothing to do with Wenger!
Rest who? Our best outfield player now? Arsene rested Cech and here we are. Nobody talks about resting Messi or Ronaldo. Ozil is the pivot of the team now. No rest until we get something and he would not be injured. Happy that he has lived up to what we were expecting of him now. We go to matches to watch good players also. We need to push for the title and Ozil is pivotal. Expecting good performance and result from Athens this night. COYG.
Here we go again!
Every time there’s talk of resting a player,
They end up getting injured ?.. Stop it!
Anyway, If we had the luxury of rotating players during games, where our main stars only play 50 -60 minutes,
we wouldn’t need to rest them for 2 or 3 weeks.
Don’t forget, it will take 2 or 3 games for that player to get back to match fitness when he has been off for 3 weeks,
Which means you’re without him for 5 weeks in total.
This is why it is important to have a strong squad of player’s,
to compete in all competition and the main reason why we struggle is because half our squad is injury prone,
As well as a few O.A.P’s.taking up valuable space.
Wasn’t Ozil left out of Germany team in the last interntional break???
Qzil is a player that doesn’t need to be rested for the sake of fear-of –losing –him to injury. He is a player that applies he’s energy to his football brain as where Sanchez is quite different, hence the injuries, there roles and personality are very different Ozil is just as devoted to keeping himself fit as he is applying the perfect pass .
Well the team is under constant change so to expect Ozil to rest is impossible for atleast the next 10 matches which of course affects the points being made by then. i presume one match to be given for Ozil during the christmas fixture.
Please keep it real. What the hell is all this rubbish about resting players. Even Thierry Henry banged on about Sanchez not getting a rest. Firstly, when the hell did Thierry Henry ever get a rest? Secondly Sanchez had an extended Summer break at the start of the season.
Arsenal who always has 12 players out injured at any given time or so it seems is the main team on the planet who cannot rest a player. I am also sceptical about Sanchez actually having a genuine hamstring problem.
Wenger out of the blue a couple of months back started talking about resting Sanchez at Christmas (a time the player has always been used to having a mid season break – last Christmas being the exception was tough for him). Wenger knows granting such a rest gives other players to expect a rest too out of fairness, otherwise it causes unrest in the team. So the only way he can justify this is for the player to feign injury on Wengers instruction. Also, with contract negotiations on the table, Wenger has to lick the bottom of Sanchez.
….. and ridiculously … here I see it being suggest Ozil should be rested. I cannot fathom the kind of mind which thought of this. Perhaps one new to football.
Players earning 100k+ are expected to be able to play 3 games at the highest level THREE times in 8 days throughout the whole season.This accounts for European games sandwiched between league games, all off which are supposed to be played like they’re cup finals with the best players. This is absolute fact.
The players who are rested are sulking big girl blouses who have contract negotiations approaching or the need for the player to be a happy bunny before a big game. I’ve been watching football religiously since 1979 and players being rested has the same effect on team performance as injuries. Players in form don’t ever return in form. They have to find it again and it can take weeks. Hence why any talk of resting players is ridiculous. Especially for a team with no cover for the rested player. Players who are not cut out to play 3 games in 8 days like 95% of all other professional players at the top level should be on less pay.