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Arsenal news: Unai Emery 'happy' with Gunners ace Mesut Ozil despite Chelsea substitution
ARSENAL boss Unai Emery insists he’s happy with Mesut Ozil because he has demonstrated a willingness to work and explained that he only substituted the No 10 off for tactical reasons against Chelsea.
Ian Wright: Ozil has to rise above criticism at Arsenal
The Gunners lost a second straight match for their worst start to a season in the 26-year history of the Premier League.
Despite battling back to 2-2 before half-time having been 2-0 down after just 20 minutes, sloppy defending allowed Marcos Alonso to steer in an 81st minute winner for the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal had enough goalscoring chances to win the game themselves having looked particularly bright in the final 15 minutes of the first half but were made to rue their wastefulness in front of goal.
Play-maker Ozil was largely subdued after the German was told pre-match that more was expected of him defensively.
The 29-year-old was hooked for Aaron Ramsey on 68 minutes with the game level but Emery, who also took Ozil off in defeat to Manchester City a week ago, insists that the motive for his withdrawal was purely tactical.
“We need him to help with his quality,” the Spanish boss admitted after his side’s 3-2 loss.
“And also I want to push him to be competitive every match.
“Today I'm happy with him because he worked. I decided to change because, in the middle, we needed a bit more to push and not let Chelsea progress easily with the ball. We were defending very deep.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery reflects on loss to Chelsea
“But I'm happy with Mesut. We are going to do with him the same work and helping him, demanding work every day.
“But, at the moment, he is doing that and I'm happy. In the process, I'm sure he is going to do a good game.”
Emery also substituted Granit Xhaka as he did against City with the Swiss midfielder having picked up a booking.
The Arsenal boss made the bold decision to bring Xhaka off at half time on this occasion, however.
But like Ozil, Emery insists the reason was tactical so as to avoid a possible red card - with Xhaka having accumulated eight red cards for Arsenal and former club Borussia Monchengladbach since April 2014.
“It was a tactical decision because he had the yellow card,” Emery added.
“We don't take risks with this yellow card and, also, to give the chance to another player we have in the match.”
Emery is the first manager to lose his first two games in charge at Arsenal since Steve Burtenshaw - who lost his three matches when caretaker boss between March and April 1986.
The ex-Paris Saint Germain and Sevilla tactician will look to curtail Arsenal’s losing streak against West Ham, who have also lost their first two top-flight games of the 2018-19 campaign, at the Emirates Stadium next Saturday (3pm).