Arsenal Vs Sheffield United: 5 key players to watch – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang absence

4. Mesut Ozil

It was always going to be interesting to see how Mikel Arteta used Mesut Ozil. The German is Arsenal’s star player, their highest earner and most talented individual in the entire squad, despite his poor performances for an extended period. While his long-term future seems dead, if Arteta wanted to inspire an immediate bump, it would likely come from getting the best out of Ozil.

Initially, that is precisely what he got. Playing in an inside-right attacking midfield role, in which he was afforded the freedom of the pitch to drift between pockets of space, Ozil flourished, receiving passes on the half-turn before then feeding more advanced teammates, especially Reiss Nelson, Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette.

However, against Crystal Palace, Ozil put in his worst performance under Arteta. He received very few passes, created even less, and was largely anonymous. His work-rate had seemingly dropped from the terrific level of the Manchester United performance. It would be nice to see Ozil step up and perform at his best once more, just when Arsenal need him most.