Emery tells Arsenal misfit Mesut to man up
UNAI EMERY has told Mesut Ozil to get himself fit and firing more often if he wants to play regularly for Arsenal. The German’s career is in limbo at the Emirates, where he is out of favour with Emery. The Spaniard has told the Arsenal board he does not see a place for World Cup winner Ozil in his long-term plans. Arsenal’s No 10 — the club’s top earner on £350,000 a week — has been unavailable for fixtures this season due to illness, persistent back problems and a niggling knee injury — and Emery has warned Ozil that he needs to up his game. Ahead of tonight’s vital Europa League last-32 clash with BATE Borisov — in which Arsenal trail 1-0 from the first leg — Emery said: ‘I asked him in our conversations to be consistent, to be available for us in training. When you can train with regularity, consistency, you can help us in the games. ‘I looked at him in training and he is like we want. I know he wants it. But he needs to be consistent, to be available for training, for the matches. ‘Without the injuries, without being sick. Like that, we can see the best Mesut with us. The key is in his hand. And he is working very well this week.’ Crashing out of the Europa League tonight against BATE would provide Arsenal with one of the most embarrassing European nights in their history. The fact that the Gunners have only once overturned a first-leg deficit in a European tie over the past 40 years does not bode well. Emery held a team meeting that delayed the start of training yesterday as his side gear up for what is arguably the most important game of the manager’s short reign. And after the humiliation of losing in Belarus last Thursday, Emery has urged his players to thrive on the pressure of tonight’s clash. ‘We can learn more in the difficult moments,’ said Emery. ‘Tomorrow is a good example. It’s important for us, with the bad result (in the first leg), with our capacity to come back against them, but knowing we need to be relaxed, efficient, very concentrated and very focused on our game.’