Unai Emery has chosen to rest Mesut Ozil for the clash in Frankfurt, preferring to use him in the league on Sunday when Aston Villa come to town.
Ozil played 71 minutes against Watford on Sunday during our 2-2 capitulation, which has led to questions being asked about Ozil’s omission given this has been his only action of the season.
When pressed on the decision, Emery said:
“I prefer after the Sunday match to rest (Ozil) and to train and to be ready for Sunday (Villa). My decision is because he played (Sunday) and also I am thinking about Thursday (today), with the focus on the first 11 (eleven), and after that I decided who are the players (eejits) who can be best for Thursday (Frankfurt)…”
Ozil recently retired from international football in controversial circumstances and was also attacked in a carjacking along with Sead Kolasinac in London, which could also be a contributing factor in the decision to leave him at home.
Rob Holding has traveled and declared himself fit for the game, and in other good injury news, it looks like Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are both approaching first team action.
Don’t forget reader(s), the game kicks off early this evening at 5:55pm UK time, let’s hope we can shake off the hangover of Sunday and set about putting things right.
