Mesut Ozil is finding it very hard to get a start in Emery’s first team at the moment with the boss seeming to think that he simply doesn’t fit into his system. The arrival last week of Denis Suarez could have pushed Ozil even further from Emery’s plans as the boss is desperate to use a winger. But now today we have the injury news from Arsenal and the boss now has yet another option.
Emery told Arsenal.com when asked about the team news: “Mkhitaryan also played 45 minutes on Monday with the under-23s. Today, Aubameyang is sick but I think he’s okay for Saturday. Also yesterday, Laurent Koscielny was sick but today he is training well. I think the other players are well and will be OK for Saturday.
And when asked about whether Henrik was ready to play, he said: “We thought last week that with two training sessions after six weeks being injured, it was not enough to play against Manchester City. But after this week, playing with the under-23s and working with us, I think it is the first time I can think about him being with us.”
Before his injury, Mhkitaryan was usually used as a winger, and although Suarez has practically just got off the plane, Emery thinks he is also a good option at the moment. “The first day last week was adaption to us and also with 25 minutes against Manchester City. But already from the first day with us, he was already with good performance, but this week he worked Monday with our coaches and also yesterday. Today he is working with different adaptation and better than last week. I hope he will continue, he is improving every day with us. Then I hope he can show in the next matches how he can help us better than in the first match against Manchester City.”
So with now the Armenian and Suarez to choose from, does that lessen Ozil’s chances of playing today even weaker?