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Arsenal have to face a tough Bournemouth task coming out of international break, but if Mesut Ozil can make it three in a row, that can help.
Arsenal really, really need a win against Bournemouth. But traveling into the Cherry’s living room and expecting three points on name value alone isn’t going to do it. That’s what happened against Wolverhampton.
Wolves came marching into the Emirates and it looked as though the Gunners just expected the win to happen to them, without them having to actually go out there and put their best foot out there. Like they forgot this was the Premier League.
Bournemouth are a tough team that will expose weak links, and that is why it is more important than ever for Mesut Ozil to make this new, trendy version of himself more than just a coincidence. He needs to make it three in a row.
After Leicester City, I thought (as I often do), that this was the new version of Ozil, that he had turned a corner and that he was about to charge headlong to 25 assists this season. Again, I was wrong.
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But what came out of the following match against Crystal Palace was a creative attacker who stopped relying to much on his creative attacking to make a difference. He was doing so much more with himself to be a useful piece of the puzzle without having to be an absolute warlock in order to do so.
He was working hard, trying to find his best form, believing that, if he worked hard enough, he would be rewarded with some suave form and some golden opportunities.
Which… unfortunately never came.
We’re noticing though. And when he came off in the 75th minute against Wolverhampton, it wasn’t like against Palace, where he was livid at the world. He looked like he was understanding, like he realized he had done all he could do. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t reeling.
He lasted the full 90 against Liverpool prior to that and showcased the exact same thing – true effort and determination. Like I have honestly never seen before out of him.
Two matches in a row with him like that. You know what they say: Once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three times is the real thing.
Bournemouth can be his third time, his chance to prove that he actually has turned a corner – a real corner.