Who Will Drop Out Of The Arsenal Side As A Result Of Ozil’s Arrival?

The signing of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid is a sensational one, in my eyes, and Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger, should be applauded. However, with a new big money player someone has to lose their place in the side, so who will it be at the Gunners?

Ozil is an innovative playmaker who can thread a size five football through the eye of a needle, and to function at his best he needs to be deployed in the hole behind the forward – Olivier Giroud, in this case.

So, with Wenger operating in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which has taken the footballing world by storm, Ozil has to slot into the central slot in the three.

With Theo Walcott on one side of him, probably his right, it will mean that Santi Cazorla will be deployed in a wider area than he was used to most of last season. The Spaniard is a flexible player and will no doubt interchange with Ozil, who is largely left footed, at will.

Jack Wilshere is nailed-on a place in one of the defensive pivots, which leaves the sole space up for grabs. Mikel Arteta, who had an extraordinary season last year, Aaron Ramsey, who has started incredibly well this season, and Tomas Rosicky, who like Ramsey has sparkled so far this term, are the trio who will be fighting for the space.

My money is on Ozil starting life at the Emirates on the bench (for the first 60 minutes or so), before entering on his debut as a substitute and totally outshining every other Gooner. Ramsey, Arteta and Wilshere are likely to rotate, will Rosicky will drop to the bench and be depended on as a super-sub.

By my reckoning, the Arsenal front six will look like this for most of the rest of the Premier League:

———-Wilshere—–Ramsey———–

—–Walcott—–Ozil——Cazorla——-

——————-Giroud——————–

What do you reckon, Gooners?