How Mesut Ozil will finally find out if Arsenal boss Unai Emery really trusts him

MESUT OZIL will discover on Sunday if his recent upsurge in form has been enough that Arsenal boss Unai Emery finally trusts him.
The German playmaker was named man-of-the-match by Arsenal fans at the Emirates after his part in the comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle that lifts the Gunners back up to third place.

However, it has not been his performances in front of the home support that have been open to question this season.

Since September 15, Mesut Ozil has been in the starting line-up for just two of Arsenal’s away games – a period during which, despite a series of niggling injuries and ongoing question-marks over his attitude to Emery’s disciplined style of football, he started in 10 out of 15 Arsenal’s home games.
He has shown Emery he can be a flat-track bully, able to unlock teams who arrive at the Emirates determined just to defend for their lives. 10 out of 10 wins in recent games – the majority featuring Ozil – is testament to that.
But Goodison Park on Sunday is a different prospect. Even under Arsene Wenger it was not considered a “Mesut Ozil sort of game”.

Incredibly, he has not played an away game in England outside of London and the south east since a defeat at Manchester City on November 2017.

So to consider him for selection, Emery will have to go against an unwritten policy that seems to have been in place for 17 months.


erhaps, though, Ozil has deserved that reconsideration – although too many fans are blinded by the occasional flash to see some of the science Emery has at his disposal.
A high-tech performance team produces the data upon which the Arsenal manager bases his reasoning. The website whoscored.com is rudimentary by comparison, but is still analytical enough to reveal the truth behind Ozil’s contribution.

An algorithm which combines attacking, defensive and passing events into a single rating out of 10 scored only Alex Iwobi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac among the starters as below the contribution made by Ozil.

He does little defensively, leaves holes in Emery’s pressing game and often gives the ball away with fancy tricks that do not come off.

Sometimes, he is brilliant.
Against a team you are just waiting to pick off, that is enough. When the sleeves need to be rolled up so you can earn a platform on which to play, he has often been found horribly wanting.

His attitude in the next few days will be key. Emery will certainly be assessing him closely.

And when that team sheet arrives on Sunday, Arsenal fans will discover whether Emery is prepared to give him one last chance to prove himself in these more testing fixtures or if the recent flicker of brilliance he has been showing is really just another false dawn.

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