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Arsenal boss Unai Emery claims the club still needs Mesut Ozil.
The German is enduring his worst run without Premier League action having played just 142 minutes of top flight football, despite being fit for the majority of the season.
Frustrated Ozil claims that he has been made the scapegoat for all the team’s shortcomings despite hardly playing any more.
Ozil has only featured twice this season and only once in the Premier League, but Emery has responded and revealed that this will change between now and the next international break.
Asked if the German World Cup winner has been made a scapegoat in the past, Arsenal’s manager responded: “We live in the present.
“In this present we are looking for the best way to be competitive and to be a strong team, playing each match with our best quality of available skills and our best mentality.
Ozil’s only Premier League minutes came against Watford in September
“Mesut Ozil, for us, is important. Sometimes one player could be important playing or could be important being on the bench or could be important preparing for the next match. This is our mentality and this is the way we want to create with 25 players in the squad.
“I told you now for the last three weeks Mesut is working and improving and being better in training and if we need him, we are going use him because with his skills in some matches we are going to need him.”
Ozil signed a three-and-a-half year contract extension back in February 2018. His new deal worth £350,000-a-week raised eyebrows and now his lack of game time has Gooners and pundits asking questions.
Fortunately, Emery maintains that the door is still open for Ozil to reclaim the regular starting role which he once took for granted under Arsene Wenger.
