Is it time to bring Mesut Ozil back into the Arsenal fold?

Gunners are lacking ideas in attack

After Arsenal’s woeful 1-0 Europa League defeat to BATE Borisov, the Gunners don’t have any margin for error in next week’s return leg.

Unai Emery left the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lucas Torreira out of the starting XI, but the team should still have been strong enough to get a result.

Mesut Ozil was also left out, though that isn’t a surprise these days. Emery confirmed that the German was fit to travel, but he was still left at home. Ozil has still only made one start this year.

Leaving out the club’s best-paid and arguably most talented player wouldn’t be such an issue if the team was playing well. However, they haven’t put a good run of performances together for a while now.

The Gunners are 6/1 to win the Europa League, only behind Chelsea and Napoli, but does Emery need to try and make it work with the World Cup winner?

Lack of ideas

Arsenal have always liked to get their full-backs into attacking areas, but that seems to be their only idea lately.

It’s been easy to stop since Hector Bellerin got injured. Opponents know that if they can keep Sead Kolasinac quiet on the left, there isn’t much danger coming from elsewhere. Even bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield Town took more shots than Arsenal in last weekend’s Premier League clash (15 to nine).

With little creativity in midfield, Alexandre Lacazette was forced to drop far too deep in search of the ball against BATE. His frustration eventually boiled over, earning him a red card.

The team are crying out for some invention. Ozil could answer the call if given the chance.