Patrick Barclay: Once a breath of fresh air, now Arsenal's Mesut Ozil is having a stinker

 
GETTY
12 March 2014

At least Arsene Wenger doesn’t have to worry about offending Mesut Ozil on derby day.

Injury has done what the Arsenal manager would otherwise have had to do — drop his record signing for the trip to Spurs.

Another pallid display before the German succumbed to hamstring trouble called for his omission for Sunday’s match, which now becomes all the more important for Arsenal as they strive to ensure another tilt at the Champions League next season.

Wenger is not short of midfield players, especially as he sees Lukasz Podolski as a wide attacker rather than a centre-forward alternative to Olivier Giroud, and it would have been unfair to leave one out for Ozil.

His failure to build on a determined display against Everton was the most worrying aspect of last night’s exit. He came to the Emirates like a glorious breath of fresh air, appearing to inspire all around him — some of us were reminded of the Cantona effect on Manchester United — but something went wrong.

Wenger told us it might be physical and that Ozil was doing a programme designed to strengthen him to cope with Premier League rigours. But Bayern aren’t in the Premier League and twice against them he was overshadowed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

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Now Arsenal must chew the meat of the Premier League season without him. After White Hart Lane they go to Stamford Bridge and must then deal with Swansea in midweek before ending the month with a visit from Manchester City. All, probably, without their £42.5million man.

He might be available again for the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan or, should it go Arsenal’s way, the final. But what about that hamstring? Even before last night, he has often appeared to be playing within himself, patting the ball to and fro, avoiding the explosiveness we recall from the 2010 World Cup. It would be sad if he struggled at the 2014 event.

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