Martin Keown has told talkSPORT that Unai Emery should build his Arsenal team around Mesut Ozil.
On Wednesday, the German midfielder was involved in a Gunners matchday squad for the first time since September 24, playing 65 minutes of Arsenal’s dramatic 5-5 (5-4 pens) defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round.
The German was arguably Arsenal’s most impressive performer and showed his quality with a brilliant assist to set up Ainsley Maitland-Niles for their fourth goal.
Emery admitted Ozil had a ‘very good’ match and club legend Keown has now urged the pair to work together and turn their seemingly fractious relationship around.
Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim White, Keown said: “We know Ozil has the ability and the quality.
“He has more ability in his little finger than most. People couldn’t even dream of some of the things that he’s capable of.
“And I believe that Emery actually has managed him probably correctly in this situation.
“Even to the detriment of Ramsey, because let’s take it all the way back to the beginning, Ozil got the first chance ahead of Ramsey.
“It’s about looking at the tactics and what can Arsenal deploy around him to get that creativity into the team.
“Because we do have some great front players, there’s no doubt…
Martin Keown on Arsenal's Xhaka storm: I blame Emery for making him captain
“You can’t kid former players, you watch and you know who’s committed and who isn’t. That’s been the issue with Ozil.
“But if he was to bring his A-game along as he did the other night [against Liverpool], I’ll take some of that, and some more.
“Let’s build a team around him, but the tactics from the manager have to be better.”
Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT as we bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network, including Arsenal vs Wolves at 3pm!