Unai Emery explains Mesut Ozil’s absence versus Bournemouth
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has revealed that the decision to bench Mesut Ozil against Bournemouth was a tactical decision made before the game. The German attacker had been fully rested after the international break but Emery nonetheless decided to drop him to the substitutes’ bench with Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan getting the nod ahead of him.

Speaking after the game, Emery highlighted that the decision was made based on the physicality and strong workrate in the ranks of Bournemouth, he said:“We thought about how we can be better in the match today, with a very demanding match physically with their intensity against us and we decided [to leave Ozil on the bench]. But every player is important. Also today we tried with three centre-backs. It’s another opportunity to improve and find our best performance.”