According to The Mirror, Arsenal‘s midfield maestro Mesut Ozil is looking to fight for a place in the starting eleven under new manager Unai Emery. The new boss has reportedly been concerned about the player’s lack of work rate and has told the player that he needs to put in much more rigorous shifts in order to keep his place in the starting lineup.
The midfielder did not feature in Arsenal’s last match in the Premier League, which they won against West Ham United. The Hammers went onto open the scoring via Marko Arnautovic but the Gunners came back strongly and goals from Danny Welbeck, Nacho Monreal and Issa Diop (own goal) saw them scrap out their first win of the season.
Ozil was also substituted in the match against Chelsea with 20 minutes on the clock, giving rise to speculations that the player might be dropped from the team in the near future. Though Emery has stated that the reason for his absence from the side was illness, speculations are rife that the Spanish manager is not happy with his commitment and wants more out of the former German international.
The 29-year-old playmaker has arguably been the biggest superstar in the Arsenal lineup since the departure of Alexis Sanchez and had gone onto sign a new contract last January with the club. The £350,000-a-week mega deal went onto make him the top earner at the north London club but now it seems that he has to fight his way into the starting eleven for the forthcoming matches.
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The player was reported to be sick with a cold as he missed the training on Friday ahead of the West Ham match and Emery has denied any report of a training ground bust-up with the player.
