Following his fine display against Bournemouth on Wednesday, social media has been abuzz with talk about Mesut Ozil.
From his 'chop shot' finish to his assist for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the World Cup winner has been central to the conversation.
But has he done enough to start the north London derby? This is what Unai Emery told the media:
on Mesut Ozil’s goal against Bournemouth...
Each player has the skills and Ozil has the confidence to shoot like that. I think it’s also amazing that football can have players with these skills and able to do different things on the pitch.
on whether he’d rather Ozil would finish ‘normally’…
I prefer goals.
on whether he’s done enough to start v Spurs…
For us, we are doing a plan for a lot of matches and each match is different, whether it’s home or away, the opposition and how we are in each moment. The most important thing is whether each player can be OK for tomorrow. Then we decide to play. With this, we’ll decide whether Mesut will play tomorrow.
on how Mesut has reacted to being in and out of the team…
The first thing is that he had injuries. Sometimes he’s had a bad back and then he’s sick. That’s the reason. I spoke with him and I’ve spoken to you, telling you about when he can be consistent and available to do training, to take the rhythm and the confidence to be able to play matches. That’s better for us.
on whether he trusts Mesut in big games…
I want to watch every player play in all the matches against the big teams, against all the teams.
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