Rennes vs Arsenal: 5 key players to avoid the nervous twitches

4. Mesut Ozil

In case you missed it, I was surprisingly not pleased with Mesut Ozil being left out of the starting XI in the North London Derby. But by the time he stepped up on the sidelines to be subbed in, I was even less pleased because the match had gotten so out of control that Ozil had no place in it and, unsurprisingly, he made no impact on the match one way or the other.

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This is going to be a much tamer match, with the Gunners having just come off a high-octane affair at Wembley, with a visit to Manchester United coming on Sunday. Anticipation can’t be kept that high for a week, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this match fall right into the plate of Ozil, who should be able to work his magic around a Rennes defense that doesn’t often have to face players capable of what Ozil can do.

That said, Ozil is farther down on this list just because, while I see the match falling into his wheelhouse, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the other attacking players ahead of him (spoiler, they’re all attackers) will follow suit, because they won’t.

Still, Ozil’s creativity should be able to shine in this one as he tries to make a case for inclusion against Manchester United at the weekend.

Moving on to No. 3.