MESUT OZIL continues to divide Arsenal fans – and according to a SunSport poll, Gunners supporters are split almost exactly down the middle on the German star.
The languid playmaker has provided moments of magic for Arsenal down the years – and provided a whopping 19 Premier League assists in the 2015-16 season.
Pressure has been mounting on under-fire Gunners boss Unai Emery to explain Ozil’s absences.
But in a poll of over 3,000 Arsenal fans – SunSport can reveal that 51 percent side with Emery and want Ozil out, believing that he’s finished at Arsenal.
Overall 1691 fans want Ozil to go – with 1619 believing that Emery should restore him to the team.
The 350,000k-a-week 31-year-old has played just 142 minutes of football this season – and failed to even make the substitutes’ bench for last night’s lacklustre 3-2 win over Vitoria.
Ozil has failed to even make the matchday 18 since captaining the side in the 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Nottingham Forest on September 24.
Emery has repeatedly been evasive when asked about Ozil’s omissions, but Head of Football Raul Sanllehi let slip: “Unais policy has always been to play the ones that work hard in training.
But speaking to The Athletic, Ozil angrily hit back: “If that was true, why did I work so hard and positively during pre-season this year?
“And why, after the World Cup last year, did I return from holiday early for the first time in my career to start training three days before I was expected back?
“I did it for the new coach, the team and the club. Maybe people dont like that I have a good contract? I dont know or care.
“It always happens that an ex-player stands there on TV and criticises me. Others just continue the theme and it gets in everyones heads.”
Prior to the Vitoria match, speculation went into overdrive after Ozil and Emery were caught on camera having a tense conversation on the training ground.
And the outcast sent Arsenal fans wild when he posted what appeared to be a thinly-veiled dig at his manager after his latest omission.
He wrote: “You make me laugh…” Accompanied by a picture of himself with a wide grin across his face.
And even if Emery never selects Arsenal’s number ten again, Ozil will have the last laugh – as it was revealed that he would still pocket 31million from his megabucks Gunners contract.
Emery has even been selecting youngsters Joe Willock and Emile Smith-Rowe over Ozil of late – as well as more established stars like Dani Ceballos.
But while Arsenal blogger Peter Wood exclusively revealed to SunSport that he believes Emery must end his “vindictive” and “baffling” treatment of Ozil to end their “creativity crisis”.
It is now revealed that a small majority of Arsenal fans don’t agree.
Arsenal next face Crystal Palace on Sunday in a repeat of the fixture that proved costly for their top-four ambitions last season.
And it remains very unlikely that their former talisman under Arsene Wenger will feature at all.
