Mesut Ozil: Why Arsenal star is not playing against West Ham – reason revealed

The German was expected to return after recovering from injury but has not recovered in time to face the Hammers.

Ozil was suffering with a knee problem in the build-up to the clash but trained all week.

However, manager Unai Emery has decided to leave him out for tactical reasons.

Emery was has been boosted by the return to fitness of Laurent Koscielny, who was named in the starting XI.

The centre-back missed last weekend’s FA Cup win over Blackpool after pulling up in the warm-up but was named alongside Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in a five-man defence.

It is the same side that started the 4-1 win over Fulham on New Year’s Day, with Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi paired in midfield.

Alexandre Lacazette was named as the man to lead the line, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Iwobi were on the flanks.

Arsenal have lost only one of the last six London derbies, with four wins and one draw.

However, Emery insisted he was taking nothing for granted when he spoke before kick-off.

“I think West Ham are improving and they also have good individual players with quality, like (Felipe) Anderson, like (Marko) Arnautovic, who are very good players,” he said.

“Usually [Manuel Pellegrini has] very offensive teams.

“They usually play matches with a balance tactically but above all with technical, offensive players.”

But the main talking point was Ozil’s absence. While he might still be burning an injury, he has been in training and was seemingly set for a least a place on the bench.

Emery has previously accused his playmaker of lacking the physical attributes to play in matches away from home

source: express.co.uk