Survival the only target for Seagulls
MIKEL ARTETA has offered Mesut Ozil an olive branch – but warned he must sharpen up to get his place back.
Arsenal’s £350,000-a-week top earner could not even make the 20-man squad at Manchester City on Wednesday.
The Gunners boss rang him before the game to tell him that he would not be included because he did not think he was sharp enough and wanted more from him.
But Arteta has made it clear the
World Cup winner is still in his
GRAHAM POTTER says setting targets for his players would be crazy.
Brighton have nine games to save their Premier League future, starting with a tough-looking clash with Arsenal at the Amex today.
They then face three of the top five – Leicester, Manchester United and Liverpool – with a relegation clash at Norwich sandwiched in-between.
As a result, the Seagulls boss is refusing to predict where he thinks his team will be able to pick up the points they need.
Potter said: “You can drive yourself mad predicting the future or hoping what will happen or setting little mini-targets. We just have to focus on the game, focus on the next match, do as well as we can – try to win, and if we can’t win, pick up something.
“That’s got to be the mentality. The job is to pick up points as we go along. The more we get, the better.
“Of course it would be nice to pick up points. It would be nice to have nine from the next three
games.”
“There’s a lot that’s happened to him in the last few weeks. I’m the first one who wants Mesut at his best.
“I’m going to put him on the pitch when I think he can give his best.”
Arteta pulled another surprise by choosing rookie striker Eddie Nketiah over Alexandre Lacazette at City but insists he still has faith in the France international. Lacazette got into trouble in lockdown after being pictured with ‘hippy crack’ balloons and was warned and punished by the club. Arteta added: “It has been a difficult season for
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■ him, not just for him but for other players too, but we’ve been trying to manage that.
“He’s had a lot of continuity with me but he had a spell where he was finding it difficult to score goals. But in the last few weeks he’s looked much better and has been more of a threat. “Everybody needs confidence, a striker more than any other player because confidence is related to the amount of goals per minute they score.”
Failure to make the Champions League next season could mean the club will have to sell players – including top scorer Pierre-emerick Aubameyang – and will struggle to tie others down to new deals.
Arteta, whose men travel to Brighton today, added: “I don’t think we have any margin for error. What we do in the next five weeks will have a big impact on what we have to do in the summer.
“I think we have to be consistent and win several games in a row if we want to lift the belief.”