Ozil’s in the cold as Unai turns up heat
It all depends on how the match is going…I decided on another option
UNAI EMERY dropped Mesut Ozil to the bench as Arsenal returned to winning ways – and then said he needed players who could cope with Bournemouth’s “physicality and intensity”.
Arsenal’s fourth away victory of the season extended their unbeaten run to 17 games and lifted them within a point of the Champions League places.
But Ozil played no part – and did not even warm up.
Emery said: “We thought how we could be better in the match, a very demanding match with physicality and intensity. But every player is important.
“At the beginning of the season we were speaking every day about the need to be competitive. We need to be organised, we need the individual quality to improve our performance. It was the same today.”
Asked why Ozil did not warm up, Emery said: “It depends how the match is going, what the result is. I decided for another option.”
Emery is watching Peaky Blinders to relax and learn about British culture. Next on his list should be Fawlty Towers to fully comprehend this comedy of errors on the south coast, which featured a bizarre own-goal and some slapstick defending.
It even had a re-run of last season’s Arsenal as the Gunners conceded a sloppy goal on the counter-attack.
But even if this was not a vintage performance, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Sergio Aguero as the Premier League’s top scorer with his eighth goal of the season.
David Brooks sprang the offside trap early on but his strike was erroneously ruled out before Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira hit a post.
It needed something special to break the deadlock and Jefferson Lerma was the man. Unfortunately for the Colombian, his leaping volley past Asmir Begovic as he stretched to cut out Sead Kolasinac’s pass will enter high in the charts for the best Premier League own-goals.
Bournemouth equalised in first-half stoppage-time after a fine counter-attack which showed the new Arsenal have not shed all their old habits. After a Gunners attack broke down in the opposition box, the Cherries moved the ball without a challenge to allow Josh King to curl home.
It meant Arsenal have still not led at half-time in the league or kept a clean sheet on the road this season.
Lerma also played a part in the decisive goal. The club’s £25million record signing was booked for a foul in midfield, and from the resulting freekick Alex Iwobi played a neat ball to allow Kolasinac to cross for Aubameyang to slot home.
“Not only did he score, it is also how he was working over the 90 minutes,” said Emery of Aubameyang. “He helped us in all different things tactically, in both attack and defence.”
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was left to lament the disallowed goal and Lerma’s luck as the Cherries suffered a third straight loss.
Howe said: “It could have been very different. We were probably on the wrong end of some decisions and the wrong end of the luck today.
“The David Brooks goal, for one. I haven’t seen it but I have been told he was onside. I know it was tight. In a game like this, you need every bit of luck you can find and it was missing for us.
“Even their first goal, I don’t think you will see that again. Bizarre. There was nothing Jeff could do about it.”
BOURNEMOUTH (4-4-2): Begovic 7; Francis 6, S Cook 6 (Gosling 73), Ake 6, Daniels 7; Brooks 7 (Stanislas 73), Gosling 6 (L Cook 73), Lerma 5, Fraser 6; King 7 (Mousset 82), Wilson 6. Booked: Ake, Lerma. Goal: King 45. NEXT UP: Man City (a), Sat PL.
ARSENAL (3-4-2-1): Leno 7; Mustafi 7, Sokratis 6, Holding 7; Bellerin 6, Torreira 7 (Guendouzi 79), Xhaka 7, Kolasinac 7; Mkhitaryan 5, Iwobi 6 (Ramsey 82); Aubameyang 7 (Nketiahat 90). Booked: Sokratis. Goals: Lerma 30 og, Aubamyenang 67. NEXT UP: Vorskla Poltava (a), Thu EL.
Referee: C Pawson (South Yorkshire).