Mesut Ozil Hands Arsenal Fresh Blow With German Star Set To Miss West Ham Clash

Arsenal have been dealt a fresh blow with Mesut Ozil set to miss today’s Premier League clash with West Ham due to illness, according to the Sun.

Ozil was expected to retain his place in Unai Emery’s starting eleven for the visit of the Hammers to north London this afternoon despite his poor display against Chelsea last week.

However, the Sun claims the German international was forced to miss training on Friday after apparently being taken ill and is now expected to sit out the West Ham clash later today.

Ozil’s absence opens the door for Aaron Ramsey to be handed a recall after the Welsh international was axed for Arsenal’s disappointing 3-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

Ramsey started in the number 10 role against Manchester City on the opening weekend with Ozil out wide but Emery moved our German star in to the central role last weekend with Ramsey being dropped to the bench.

However, Ozil’s latest illness means Ramsey is expected to come back in to the side against West Ham and offer the 27-year-old a chance to nail-down his place in Emery’s starting eleven.

The boss has warned Ramsey not to let his on-going contract stand-off affect his performances on the pitch with the club struggling to agree terms over a new deal.

Emery is quoted by the Sun as saying:

“I spoke with Ramsey last week and told him ‘I want you focused only on training and on the match, to show the capacity to help the team’.

“The contract is something for his agent and the club to sort out. But what I need is the player’s focus only on his performance each day in training or during the match.

“I spoke with him last week. But now I am only thinking about the match against West Ham and I need the player to be focused only on Saturday.”

It will be interesting to see how the midfielder responds today as Arsenal go looking for their first points of the new season following consecutive defeats to Man City and Chelsea in our opening two matches.

Ozil will become the latest player to be ruled out as he’ll join Laurent Koscielny, Sead Kolasinac, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Carl Jenkinson on the sidelines.