[Team News] Arsenal v Qarabag FK – Ozil Could Return To Starting Lineup

Unai Emery has claimed that Mesut Ozil has returned to training ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Qarabag FK (via Arsenal.com).

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Team News – Player Ratings – Match Highlights
Match: Arsenal vs Qarabag FK
Stadium: Emirates Stadium
Kick-Off (UK Time): 20:00 13/12/2018
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It’s the final group stage match of the Europa League season with the Gunners’ place in the knockout stages already sealed.

Qarabag FK are the opponents for an Arsenal side which is expected to see more than a few alterations from last weekend’s match against Huddersfield.

In his pre-match press conference, Unai Emery was asked about the fitness of a number of players but specifically whether or not Mesut Ozil could feature for the Gunners.

“I don’t know. Tomorrow he is in the group, there are 18 players in the squad for this match and I am going to decide if he plays tomorrow from the beginning or during the match in the 90 minutes.”

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Emery also spoke about the problems the club is facing in defence and whether he expects Laurent Koscielny to feature on Thursday.

“We are going to decide after tomorrow’s match, as its the first match with us that Laurent Koscielny will play. We are going to look also if he can play 90 minutes or less minutes in this game.

“We can use another player in this position, someone like Nacho Monreal, who is also with us and in his career, he played in this position [before].

“We are going to decide but the first is to think about the match tomorrow because we need to receive information on how he can feel tomorrow.”

So, it seems as if Laurent Koscielny will definitely start but there are doubts about Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil. The club also confirmed that Aaron Ramsey and Shkodran Mustafi are back in full training. It’s not the most important match in the club’s history so hopefully, fitness will be the priority for some Arsenal players returning from injury.