Unai Emery has said that Mesut Ozil will return to the Arsenal squad for Thursday’s Europa League tie with Qarabag, while captain Laurent Koscielny will start for the first time since May.
A back problem has ruled Ozil out of Arsenal’s last three games, while Koscielny has only played for the under-23s so far this season after suffering an Achilles injury in last year’s 1-0 loss at Atletico Madrid.
“We are going to use tomorrow some different players coming from the U23s and in our planning is to start playing with Laurent Koscielny,” Emery said.
“We have some players with injuries at centre-back — we are going to decide after tomorrow’s match [whether Sead Kolasinac plays against Southampton]. We are going to see if he can play 90 minutes, we can use another player in this position like Nacho Monreal, Lichtsteiner.
“Tomorrow he [Ozil] is in the group, the 18 players for this match. We are going to decide if he will play tomorrow from the beginning or during the 90 minutes.”
Emery said that he trusts his squad after a video emerged of several key players allegedly inhaling nitrous oxide.
Arsenal said that they issued warnings to the players involved, and Emery said that the issue is an internal one.
“The club said to you that this discussion is inside between us,” he said. “For me the most important thing is not to lose our focus. I trust my players, I trust their behaviour.”