Unai Emery surprisingly opted to omit Mesut Ozil against Bournemouth, playing 3-4-3 with Sokratis joining in on Mustafi and Holding while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading upfront.
Aubameyang tapped in cross from Sead Kolasinac to secure three points for the Gunners.
When asked after the match about Ozil’s absence, Unai Emery replied:
He said: “We thought about how we can be better in the match today, with a very demanding match physically with their intensity against us and we decided.
“But every player is important. Also today we tried with three centre-backs.
“It’s another opportunity to improve and find our best performance.”
Mesut Ozil was an unused substitute for the 90 minutes, perhaps he wasn’t even asked to warm up by the coaching staff. Emery even insisted that decisions to throw in subs depends on ‘How the match unfolds’.
“It depends on how the matching is coming and how the result is coming during the 90 minutes.
“I decided for another option.”
