Arsenal vs Chelsea: To Mesut Ozil, or not to Mesut Ozil?

Arsenal struggled with creating chances against West Ham, but does that mean they roll the dice on starting Mesut Ozil against Chelsea?

There is a certain irony in the fact that Arsenal‘s biggest problem against West Ham was a lack of creating chances, and yet it was a tactical decision to leave the “king of the chances” not just out of the starting XI, but off the bench as well.

And yet, the big question that we have all been asking about that situation is whether or not Mesut Ozil would have even made a difference.

What this has come down to is a matter of chance. Getting the best out of Mesut Ozil is like rolling a Yahtzee on the first try. Technically, it can absolutely happen, and the thrill is something else when it happens, but the deflating feeling you get when it doesn’t is far worse.

And, funny enough, the likelihood of each follows suit with Ozil as well. It has become incredibly unlikely that we see the best out of him, but there is always that chance that we see something special.

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So Chelsea is up next and we have to ask – is this a match that you roll the dice on Ozil?

No.

Seriously though, it’s not. As it stands, I see rolling the dice on Ozil as something you do in either pure desperation, or when enough things are going right that you can spare the chance.

Neither of those is the case right now. The club isn’t in a state of pure desperation. They went limp against West Ham, and that was a real bummer, but that doesn’t qualify as full-blown desperation.

And I don’t need to go into detail about why the other one isn’t the case right now. There aren’t enough good, reliable things around the club to mitigate the potential risk of a flat Ozil.

What makes more sense is trusting in guys that aren’t as much of a risk, but can pay off close to the highest reward – Iwobi and Ramsey. Let them do what you would otherwise trust Ozil to do and, if you’re feeling saucy, then perhaps let Ozil come in later in the game, or if an injection is needed and no one else is available.

Of course, it is about time that the pressures of the Ozil situation may be getting to Emery, so who knows what the plan is going forward.