Unai Emery has revealed that German midfielder Mesut Ozil has been left out of their squad to take on Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow as he’s been rested for their game against Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Gunners will travel to Germany tomorrow for their Europa League opener against Frankfurt, as the north London side look to get their campaign in the competition off on the right foot.
Arsenal confirmed their squad that’ll be travelling for Thursday evenings game, with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Rob Holding and Granit Xhaka all claiming places.
Ozil, however, was left out by Emery for tomorrow’s match, something that has seen a number of fans question this decision on Twitter.
Following this, Emery has now come and out confirmed that he’s left Ozil out of the squad for Thursday’s clash as he wants to save him for the Gunners’ match against Villa on Sunday.
As per the club’s official website, Emery was asked about his decision to exclude Ozil, with the German stating “I prefer after Sunday’s match to rest for this match, to train and be ready for Sunday.”
This decisions seems like a bit of a strange one to us, as Frankfurt away is definitely going to be the club’s toughest match in the Europa League group stage.
Given this, Emery will surely want all of his best players available for the match, a group which Ozil is definitely a part of given the ability he has in his locker.
Only time will tell whether this decision to leave Ozil at home for tomorrow’s game was the right move from Emery, or whether it was a mistake from the Spaniard.