Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that Mesut Ozil is more or less certain to miss Wednesday night’s Premier League meeting against Huddersfield Town.
The Germany international was a surprise exclusion from the matchday squad at Burnley through illness, and this saw Alex Iwobi start alongside Alexis Sanchez only to be replaced by Jack Wilshere during the second half of the game.
Arsenal were pegged back by the Clarets backline for most of the clash, but they found the breakthrough in injury-time as a penalty won by Aaron Ramsey was converted by Alexis Sanchez.
As a result, the north Londoners have won their last three meetings against Sean Dyche’s in the dying seconds of added-time including last season’s 98th winner via a spot-kick from Sanchez.
Following the game, Wenger confirmed that Ozil is a major doubt with an illness, which he has yet to give an update on, he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports: “I haven’t even seen him. The doctor came to see me and said he had to travel back home, he was in the hotel with us. He travelled up with us, then travelled back.
“We brought (Ainsley) Maitland-Niles up, who arrived at 1pm because we had only 17 players. Will Ozil be available for Wednesday? Certainly, he will be short. We will see what it is exactly.”
With Ozil out, Iwobi struggled to gain the foothold in the game starting behind the main striker, and he could be replaced by Jack Wilshere, who made more of an effort to change the complexion of the match.
Wilshere has been restricted to starts in the Gunners’ Europa League and League Cup games this term, and Wednesday night’s Huddersfield clash could offer his first league start in nearly 575 days unless Wenger picks Welbeck for the job.
Ozil put in a stellar showing during the 2-0 north London derby win over Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, and the Gunners’ faithful will hope to have attacker back in action for Saturday’s late kick-off against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.
