Brighton 1-1 Arsenal: 3 Reasons why Arsenal failed to beat Brighton

#3 Mesut Ozil’s lack of consistency

Ozil struggled to have an impact on the game

Ozil has been constantly shifting from being the most important player in one game to being the less effective player in the next match. He has not found a middle ground where Unai Emery can take the risk of starting him in three to four matches on a run.

Today was the kind of day Arsenal supporters have seen a lot in the last five years when Ozil is almost invisible on the pitch and looked like Arsenal played with ten men in the first half. It seems unlikely that Ozil will spontaneously change his playing style at this age, but Unai has to decide whether Ozil’s frequent burst of creative intelligence can be accommodated given that he fails in 50% of the matches if not more.

It remains clear whether the World Cup winner will be offloaded in the summer, but Unai Emery’s doubt in his importance to his style of play is clearly visible.