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Arsenal: Mesut Ozil encore more than a necessity
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal is about to face a very nervy two hours, but no matter what, they have to see an encore from Mesut Ozil to give some hope for next year.
Arsenal has been struggling mightily for consistency this year. It wasn’t just spurts of hit and miss though, this time around, the Gunners had a streak of success, followed by a streak of misery. And whether you want to accept it or not, Mesut Ozil has had a huge role to play in those spurts.
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Ozil is a high-profile player that was brought in to make a high-profile impact and the unfortunate reality of this season has proven that Ozil does not always have the ability to make the needed impact.
In fact, more times than not, he doesn’t. And sure, he is fantastic when it all clicks, like in 2015/16 or against Sunderland. But the problem here is that he cannot be relied on and until he proves otherwise, I don’t see why we would expect anything different.
The end of the season is going to be big for so many players, simply because of how big this summer is going to be. There is going to be some shaking up and I have to believe that not that many people are safe. Arsene Wenger has made it clear that even his favorites aren’t safe.
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The results speak for themselves with the strong finish to the season.
Everton holds some high stakes with a lot of Gunners. None more so than Mesut Ozil. Ozil had a fantastic match against Sunderland, creating 12 chances all on his own. It was majestic and he deserves tremendous credit for it.
I hate to be a downer, but those 12 chances need to be proven to be more than just a fluke. It has been a steady stream of improvements for Mesut Ozil in the 3-4-3, culminating in the big one against Sunderland. It already has the foundation to not be a fluke, but closing out the season with an encore would go a long way towards reassuring both the fans, Wenger and himself that we have something to look forward to next season.
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Ozil’s overall arch of quality at Arsenal has not been the most promising. It got steadily better before hitting another decrease this year. That little uptick to close out the year could set the table for a massive return to form in an even more massive 2017/18 season.