Arsenal: Mesut Ozil return perfect timing for upcoming run

Mesut Ozil has returned to training and could be available for selection very soon. Given Arsenal’s upcoming run of easy fixtures, the timing is perfect.

Arsenal’s combative draw against Chelsea, with Mesut Ozil noticeably absent thanks to an inflammation in his knee, did raise some questions regarding the utility and the benefits of having the German in the side. Are the Gunners, away from home, better off with a more industrious winger? Is Ozil being carried by his teammates? Should Arsene Wenger look to rotate him when he is wanting to play a more counter-attacking style?

These are questions that are yet to be answered and there will be a wide range of responses depending on your opinion on Ozil’s effectiveness, which tends to be a rather divisive topic among fans, analysts and media members alike. Nevertheless, while doubts may pertain to his utility in the big games, away from home, there are few who question the creative, unlocking influence that he exerts against the lesser sides.

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Ozil is a wonderfully ingenious attacker. His penetrating passing range, his gliding in and out of pockets of space, the way that he knits together the play, slowing to a snail’s pace, only to explode into life, bursting with a sharp one-two, a shimmy and a flick, a low, fired cross, a sliding through ball, are all beautiful to watch. He is elegantly effective.

And his absence, if extended, would be felt by an Arsenal side that revolves around his probing passing. Thankfully, then, it is good news that he has returned to training, as announced on his Instagram, and that he will soon be available for selection, potentially as soon as Monday night’s trip north to face West Bromwich Albion.

It is against the lesser sides who are happy to relinquish possession in favour of contracting the space in their own defensive third, suffocating the opposition of time and opportunity in and around the penalty area, that Ozil’s talents are truly invaluable; his unlocking ability of even the tightest, most disciplined of defences is vital.

And that is why his return is perfectly timed; Arsenal now face a run of games where Ozil can flourish as the central, creative cog. In their next six Premier League games, the Gunners face just one team currently in the top half, West Brom, who sit in 10^th, and they play on Monday.

Three of the six are at home – Brighton, Norwich City, and Swansea City – and they are interspersed with Europa League games that Wenger will want likely rest and rotate his stars for. It is not until November that Arsenal face another of the traditional ‘top six’, when they travel to Manchester City before hosting Spurs in a North London derby in consecutive matches, and it is conceivable that they could haul their way back to the top end of the league standings by that point.

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If, as they protest, Arsenal harbour title hopes, then they must win at least five of their next six Premier League fixtures. They already sit six points behind the two Manchester clubs; they cannot afford to slip further behind. In their quest to mount a genuine title challenge, the return of Mesut Ozil, for this run of rather kind fixtures, is extremely important.

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