BATE vs Arsenal: Mesut Ozil situation is ‘embarrassing’ insists Martin Keown after German misses Europa League defeat

Stanislaw Drahun scored the only goal of the game to secure a 1-0 lead heading back to the Emirates for the second leg of the round of 32 tie

Martin Keown has labelled Mesut Ozil‘s situation at Arsenal as “embarrassing.”

Ozil was absent from the squad in the 1-0 defeat to BATE in the first leg of their Europa League round of 32.

And Keown is upset at the German’s lack of availability under Unai Emery and has questioned whether the injuries keeping him out are legitimate.

“Is he injured? Is he ill? One of the things as a player is that you have to be available for selection and give consistency,” Keown explained.

“He hasn’t been able to give either of those so he has to work to get back in to the team. That’s what he has to do and what the manager wants him to do. It’s now becoming embarrassing, the situation and with no Ramsey too.

“We don’t know if he is really injured or not. To miss (100 matches) is quite remarkable. I would say that is questionable but only the player really knows.”

There remains a mystery surrounding Ozil’s fitness, with no game this weekend due to already being eliminated in the FA Cup, Emery will have to consider the No 10’s return next Thursday for the second leg, but insists his side can cope without him.

Mesut Ozil was absent from the Arsenal squad vs BATE (Reuters)

“Every player is okay to play. Those that were here, we can win with them and we deserved that,” said Emery.

“Last week we won and we played with the same players. No different performance. We deserved to win but didn’t get the result. They were very organised.

“We can win with every player and lose with the same players.”