Arsenal vs Crystal Palace: 5 key players in comfy home fixture

1. Mesut Ozil

Oh, Mesut Ozil. What to say, what to say. He has had nearly one full season under Unai Emery and he really hasn’t shown us anything we didn’t already know about him. He can’t play well in away matches and he tries to make up for that with demonstrative home matches.

As mentioned, we are running out of home matches, and Ozil is running out of time to reassure Emery that he is worth the money and space on the roster going into next season, when there figures to be much higher turnover, as Emery knows more about the team now than he did when he first took over.

This is the kind of match that Ozil has to be licking his chops over. It’s the kind of match that he could roll out 17 chances and three assists in, get his fanboys drooling again, and re-stoke the flames of conversation regarding his future and how he’s worth the paycheck he gets.

But again, this is no walk in the park. He still has to be sharp. Thankfully, no one has the impetus to be extra sharp that Ozil has, with how much is currently on his plate for his future with the club. If there is one.