Arsenal vs Manchester United: For Mesut Ozil, the boogeyman is two-fold

Arsenal’s incoming match against Manchester United has some huge stakes for Mesut Ozil, who faces two familiar boogeymen at once.

Arsenal may be without one of their key attacking three, but with Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and whoever they decide to throw at the front of the formation, there are plenty of reasons to believe that a set-back is not only not necessary, but completely avoidable.

The key may fall to Ozil, however, who will be in a place to properly vanquish two of his recent boogeymen in one fell swoop. And now, I’m not referring to anyone on Manchester United. No one on that club can stop and in-form Ozil. No one on any club can stop an in-form Ozil.

I’m also not talking about this myth that he doesn’t show up in big games. A boogeyman is something that isn’t really there, except in someone’s mind. Definition aside, Ozil’s first boogeyman is being able to string together three performances in a row.

I have cited many times that once if a fluke, twice is coincidence, three is actual skill. To my knowledge, Mesut Ozil has not stringed together three positive Premier League performances since 2015/16.

Perhaps he missed Burnley on purpose, knowing that he would struggle and recognizing the necessity of making it three in a row.

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This is a much bigger deal than it seems. Consistency has always been the key for Ozil and, for me, once you do something three times in a row, against three different opponents, then you can start talking about consistency. The fact that it comes against Manchester Untied is just a bit of added sugar.

The other boogeyman that he can vanquish is the bigger one. The whole “without the right cast” boogeyman.

To put it simply, without Alexis and Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil has not tallied a single hard stat. He has two goals and five assists on the year and all seven of those contributions have come when the big three start together up front.

He has to shake that. We all know that he is dependent on those around him. That’s been established for some time. But to graduate from that would be simply sublime, and he can take a big steps towards that if he can perform against United without the supposedly needed cast of characters.

Next: 5 Key Players To Watch vs Manchester United

It’s never too late to vanquish boogeymen. Even if he inevitably leaves, this will still be good for him as a player.

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