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Mesut Ozil left out of Arsenal...

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Mesut Ozil left out of Arsenal's squad for the Europa League


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Dundalk won't have contend with Mesut Ozil in the Europa League, as the German attacker has been left out of their squad for the group stages of the competition.

The 31-year-old has been frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta and hasn't played for the Gunners since March.

“We want to evolve more and play better and compete better," Arteta said last month when asked about Ozil's ongoing absences from his squad.

“We are picking the players that we believe are the best for each game. You can see we keep training, it’s what we’re trying to do.

“You can see that the players we are changing, we are using, it’s very difficult every week not for Mesut but for some other players as well to make the squad. Every week we try to pick the right players.

“It’s difficult for others as well that aren’t involved in the Premier League and didn’t play tonight either. We have a squad of 26, 27 players at the moment and we can’t give playing time to all of them.

“Of course I understand and I respect your questions but I have to try to do my job as fair as possible. I try to select the players that are, in my opinion, in better condition.”

Arsenal's 50-million Euro signing Thomas Partey is included in the 25-man squad but there's no places for defenders Sokratis Papastathopoulos and William Saliba.

Dundalk will travel to North London on October 29th before rounding off their group stage campaign against Arsenal at the Aviva Stadium on December 10th.


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