Arsenal team news: Wenger sweats over illness status of star player ahead of Liverpool clash

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is uncertain whether star playmaker Mesut Ozil will recover in time for the Premier League clash against Liverpool on the weekend.

Ozil was sent home from training on Wednesday 1 March due to illness.

Wenger revealed today that he does not know if Ozil will recover in time but remains optimistic that he will have his star man available.

See More: For Mesut Ozil news and everything you want to know about the Arsenal star

“We’ll see, I don’t know,” Wenger told a press conference on Thursday morning.

“He should be OK.”

The details of Ozil’s illness have yet to be revealed.

Ozil has not scored for Arsenal since 10 December 2016 but remains a key player in the Gunners side.

The Germany international of Turkish origin has nine goals and eight assists in all competitions for the North London outfit.

Despite being criticised for a dip in form in 2017 Ozil has actually completed the third highest number of passes in the opposition half in the Premier League this season – and has a higher percentage than first placed Paul Pogba and second placed Jordan Henderson.

Also despite being slammed for his work-rate Ozil has actually covered more ground on average (10.49km per game) than Alexis Sanchez who is generally praised for being hard working.

In other Arsenal team news, Wenger confirmed that Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny have returned to training.

The Arsenal boss also revealed that Egypt international Mohamed Elneny is out with an ankle injury and is set to return in around three weeks.

“We have back in the squad Aaron Ramsey. He is back in full training and Koscielny as well.

“Elneny has an ankle problem, he should be sorted in about three weeks.”