Thomas Partey backed to end Mesut Ozil's exile from Arsenal

The World Cup winner’s exclusion should come to an end if Arsenal are to extract Partey’s full potential, says Merson.

Paul Merson believes Mesut Ozil’s creativity would add a nice touch to Thomas Partey dictating the Arsenal midfield in games.

Mikel Arteta appears to have closed the book on Ozil’s Gunners career, having left him out of the club’s Premier League and Europa League squads. In fact, he hasn’t played the German since March 7 – almost nine months ago.

But the Arsenal boss pulled off a brilliant piece of business in the summer in landing Partey on a €50m deal. The former Atletico Madrid star had since enjoyed an impressive start until he sustained a thigh injury last month.

No return date has been stated so far, with Arteta confirming the injury is worse than originally feared.

But once Partey is back in the fold, Merson believes Arteta would be wise to recall Ozil to fix Arsenal’s struggles in attack.

“For me, Mesut Ozil comes back in the team if Thomas Partey is fit,” the former Arsenal star told Sky Sports.

“Partey gets around the pitch, dominates the midfield and dictates the game. Him playing opens up a chance for Ozil.

“At the moment, Arsenal have nobody in there to provide the forwards. You can make runs all day long, but if you’re a centre-forward, your runs are only as good as the players playing behind you.

“When these Arsenal players are getting the ball in midfield, with time, is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang making the run? Is he confident they are going to see his run and are capable of getting that ball through the eye of a needle?

“I’d say no, so they need creativity. Fernando Torres made runs when Steven Gerrard got the ball. They didn’t even have to look.”

Arsenal have scored just one goal from open-play in their last six league games, leading them to four defeats and a single win.

Merson added: “Teams are sitting back against Arsenal, and they don’t have the creativity in midfield to break them down.

“If Partey doesn’t play, Ozil can’t play. Without Partey, Arsenal are not going to dictate the midfield, and then can’t afford to play with 10 men. But if Arsenal have the midfield, and Ozil is playing behind Aubameyang, with two flying wingers. You ask the back four to stay still, including the full-backs.

“You’d play Granit Xhaka next to Partey, then Ozil in front, then have Aubameyang central, Bukayo Saka on the left, and try and get a tune out of Nicolas Pepe.

“Get the ball to Ozil, and before you know it, if you make runs, he’ll find you.”