Mesut Ozil says that playing every three days is tough, but that he enjoys the challenge of what are known in Germany as ‘English weeks’.
The Gunners face Southampton at St Mary’s tonight, a game that is sandwiched between a home clash with Manchester United and a trip to Stoke on Saturday evening.
It’s going to be a big challenge for a team that cannot afford to drop any more points if they want to reach the top four – and even then we need other results to go our way.
““We are playing at the moment what we call ‘English weeks’ in Germany, which I have always preferred to training because you can always express yourself and enjoy yourself on the pitch,” said the 28 year old.
“Of course, it is tough when you are playing every three days, especially because of what it is like here in England.
“It is important to get positive results, be confident and finish the season as well as we can.”
It’s some years since Arsenal last won a Premier League game at St Mary’s. In fact it was 2003 when a Robert Pires goal secured a 1-0 win.
Ozil knows Southampton are a threat, but feels the team have what it takes.
“They are a team who work as a unit and of course when they play against a big team like Arsenal, there is a real will from them to want to win the game,” he said.
“But we need to play our game. We know our quality. Southampton will be a big challenge for us but if we can produce a performance, we know we can get the win.”
Arsenal have won at St Mary’s already this season, notching up a 5-0 win in the FA Cup back in January, so we’ll be looking to make it a double later on.
Arsenal’s Premier League record at Southampton since 2003
February 2005: Southampton 1-1 Arsenal
January 2013: Southampton 1-1 Arsenal
January 2014: Southampton 2-2 Arsenal
January 2015: Southampton 2-0 Arsenal
December 2015: Southampton 4-0 Arsenal
Blogs clearly loves to emphasize that it was “Robert Pires” who got us that win
wouldn’t be surprised if the post-match article included a picture of Robert Pires
He was part of the French tv team at the Juve game last night.
Suave bastard.
Some things can be so strange. Like Donald Trump winning the US presidency. Like us finding the most glorious ways to catapult against oppositions we should be beating. Just can’t understand how we haven’t won at Southampton in 5 attempts.
They were a formidable team in the recent past.
Exactly man why only beat them when we can catapult them
Home advantage is a big factor.
Not sure why but this made me half spit out my iced tea. Thanks mate. Not much to laugh about these days.
Anyway, if Arsenal win, then it’s be thanks to the others ; if Arsenal lose or draw, it’ll be mainly because of Özil.
The lilly livered fraud!!
I fucking love Ozil. There has been games this season where he has emptied the fucking tank and it’s still written that he doesn’t try. I hope he stays at Arsenal a long long time and gets a spot next to Dennis outside :0)
Watching Juve yesterday had me thinking what could have been. But with soft guys like Ozil i can only dream.
Clearest path to top four. We win remaining four, and Liverpool draws one of their final two. Not an easy path, but certainly possible. Tonight will be the toughest one for us out of our remaining four.
Can’t get worse than the 2 previous league games there. Dire, they were.
If ozil game up we can win
Ozil said himself every team that plays against arsenal play as if it was a cup final. So are arsenal NOW.. some surprises and some not the best league in the world by far.. arsenal don’t deserve being criticised. The other teams deserve credit.. carry on arsene play your game mate..