Gary Neville insists he would not be surprised if Mesut Ozil was named among the substitutes for this afternoons north London derby.
The Germany World Cup winner was an unused substitute in last weekends win over Bournemouth with Unai Emery citing his opponents work rate and physicality as factors in his decision to bench the former Real Madrid star.
Ozil, like the overwhelming majority of Arsenals first team squad, were left behind in London as a much-changed side coasted to a 3-0 win in Kiev over Vorskla in the Europa League on Thursday.
But it appears that Emery has decided against restoring the 29-year-old to his starting XI after Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves revealed Ozils kit had not been laid out in the dressing room ahead of the match.
More: Football
The cameras panned around the home dressing room to reveal the shirts of Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, both of whom travelled to Ukraine in midweek, but Ozils shirt was nowhere to be seen.
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Reacting to his possible exclusion, Neville said: No I wouldnt be surprised at all [if he was left out].
Hes [Emerys] not going to compromise on his beliefs, hes getting the maximum out of this squad at the moment and it will take three or four transfer windows.
And there are a couple of players, we know who they are, theyre going to have less and less minutes, have less and less influence because theyre not on the journey he wants to go on.
People have questioned the comfort zone mentality of whats gone on here under Arsene Wenger but thats gone now.
More: Arsenal FC
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Gary Neville insists he would not be surprised if Mesut Ozil was named among the substitutes for this afternoons north London derby.
The Germany World Cup winner was an unused substitute in last weekends win over Bournemouth with Unai Emery citing his opponents work rate and physicality as factors in his decision to bench the former Real Madrid star.
Ozil, like the overwhelming majority of Arsenals first team squad, were left behind in London as a much-changed side coasted to a 3-0 win in Kiev over Vorskla in the Europa League on Thursday.
But it appears that Emery has decided against restoring the 29-year-old to his starting XI after Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves revealed Ozils kit had not been laid out in the dressing room ahead of the match.
More: Football
The cameras panned around the home dressing room to reveal the shirts of Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, both of whom travelled to Ukraine in midweek, but Ozils shirt was nowhere to be seen.
Advertisement Advertisement
Reacting to his possible exclusion, Neville said: No I wouldnt be surprised at all [if he was left out].
Hes [Emerys] not going to compromise on his beliefs, hes getting the maximum out of this squad at the moment and it will take three or four transfer windows.
And there are a couple of players, we know who they are, theyre going to have less and less minutes, have less and less influence because theyre not on the journey he wants to go on.
People have questioned the comfort zone mentality of whats gone on here under Arsene Wenger but thats gone now.
More: Arsenal FC
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