Arsenal star aims another swipe at Emery, hails Arteta again

Mesut Ozil has aimed yet another swipe at former Arsenal manager Unai Emery, insisting the players have improved “a lot tactically” under Mikel Arteta.

Ozil has frequently complained about life under Unai Emery, and now believes Arsenal can finish in the top four or five this season with Arteta in charge.

The playmaker also believes there is a clear message to the players in the philosophy that Arteta has set out.

Speaking on the tactics under Arteta, Ozil told The National: “Everyone knows. Even the players – let’s say that after 60 or 70 minutes, if that player’s changing, everyone knows now in which position they have to play or how [the manager] wants to attack or make a lot of pressure on the opposite team. This kind of stuff.

“So, right now, everybody knows tactically that we’re improving.

“It’s just two months that Mikel has been here, and we have improved a lot tactically.

“Of course, now it’s hard times for us.

“It’s difficult to say because right now everything is not going well, but we know if everything is going well, if the confidence is back and if we take the right results, we will end in the top four, in the top five.

“We have to believe in ourselves, believe in us as a team, to do what the coach wants.

“We’re in a good way, you see it as well on the pitch, everyone enjoys, everyone is happy. As a player, you have to be happy to give everything on the pitch.”