I want to like Özil, I really do.

Actually, that’s a lie, I want to love Özil.

But it’s just so damn hard.

He’s been at Arsenal for over a season now and for whatever reason, he’s just not doing it. He’s not performing like a £42.3 million player should.

I am not completely ignorant and understand the talent he has, the big question is – is Mesut Özil an Arsenal player? Is he suited to the Premier League?

Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy have all hit the ground running. They’ve settled in, and their high-energy performances have pleased the fans. Özil however just doesn’t seem to be doing it.

People argue that it’s because he’s being played out of position, or that he’s shattered after playing all summer. But for me, there is a more fundamental problem with him – he’s just not what Arsenal need.

The main problem is there are better players in his position. Santi Cazorla already fulfils that role well and with Tomas Rosicky as backup, the role is well catered for. Another problem is that he needs to play alongside certain types of players – rapid warriors such as Cristiano Ronaldo who can latch onto his intelligent balls – and for whatever reason the other Arsenal players aren’t on the same wavelength.

That’s not a criticism of Mesut Özil or the other Arsenal forwards – everyone has their own style of player – but is a clear indicator that Özil is not what we need.

We had a chance to bring Cescy back for around £28 million (depending on the reports you believe) this summer and after having a conversation with the Arsenal manager, Cesc revealed that Arsene said he already had Özil in his position. At the time I thought Wenger was better off selling Özil, banking the spare money and bringing Fabregas back to The Emirates – he desperately wanted to come back to Arsenal, he wouldn’t need time settling in and knows the club inside and out. And most importantly, doesn’t need to adapt to Premier League football.

And you see how he’s performing for Chelsea now – he is the focal point of their team, suppling the bullets for Diego Costa to fire Chelsea to the Premier League title it seems.

If we brought Cesc back, we’d have one hell of a chance to win the title, and do special things in the Champions League.

You also wonder how much Arsene Wenger wanted Mesut Özil in the first place. He was only made available on the last day of the transfer window last summer and if you ask me, it was a case of having a world class player available and taking a chance on him. I don’t believe that Arsene wanted Özil all along, and I genuinely believe that if Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain were made available on the last day then they could have easily arrived at Arsenal as well.

I think Özil’s availability was too much of a good opportunity to miss and we took it. But over 12 months on it looks like a big mistake.

Our performances improved as a team once Özil arrived, but his influence quickly wore off. He put in some good shifts and scored a few goals, but went off the boil. We won the FA Cup but he contributed very little to that success. In games he’s ended up being a liability.

Arsene Wenger is finding himself trying to justify Özil’s place in the team. With the massive price tag, dropping him is not an option even though it would be the best thing to do. Santi Cazorla should have played against Manchester City at the weekend and he does a lot more in terms of tracking back. With the energy and running of Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere Manchester City would never have equalised in the last 10 minutes. Having Özil on the pitch is a liability.

There are Arsenal and Germany supporters who are critical of Özil for varying reasons, the main one being his work rate is poor. Defenders of him will point to his statistics, saying his passing figures are exemplary. But the problem is for all the short passes (which offer no real penetration in most games) he is on the whole ineffective.

If you look at the positives this season, has he really contributed? Did he help in the late comeback against Everton? Did he contribute in the two Arsenal goals against Manchester City?

The problem we have is that we now have a player which such a big price tag that we can’t drop him. And it seems clear that Arsene Wenger doesn’t know what to do with him either. Whereas Cesc Fabregas was nurtured in Arsene’s methodology and would have made a massive impact on this team.

Arsenal only know how to play one way and in a way the game panned out how you would have expected – giving 110% going forward but leaving gaps at the back.

Arsenal gave everything going forward, with Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez in particular lighting up The Emirates Stadium. Wilshere looks like a real player now after several seasons with in and out of the team and looks confident. And Sanchez, is fantastic going forward but gives Arsenal so much defensively as well, always tracking back and showing a phenomenal amount of energy.

But Mesut Özil again had a poor performance.

Once Arsenal went 2-1 up against Manchester City with 15 minutes to go, it was obvious that the visitors would be throwing everything forward and with our defensive frailties, you almost expected Arsenal to concede. And only a few minutes after Sanchez’s fantastic volley, Manchester City equalised.

We’ve conceded 4 headed goals already this season and from set-pieces we look vulnerable. We’ve been defensively sound over the last couple of seasons and you wonder if the absence of Kieran Gibbs (who is a better defender than Monreal) and Bacary Sagna (who we all know was very strong in the air) is a factor in all this.

Mathieu Debuchy is a very good defender but Bacary had an excellent jump and how many times did we see Szczesny aim goal kicks towards Bac during matches?

With 15 minutes to go and with Arsenal leading 2-1, Mesut Özil had to come off. He was poor during the game (with Wilshere and Ramsey doing most of the creating) and was completely outshines by Alexis Sanchez, who looks like a real star. Even Danny Welbeck put in a very good performance, and was unlucky not to put Arsenal in the lead when his chipped effort hit the post.

Once Sanchez’s effort flew past Joe Hart my very first thought was “Özil needs to come off now”. We were leading against the Premier League champions and that is something that needed to be protected. Defensively, Özil is a big liability and the bottom line is he is costing Arsenal football matches. He has talents but is badly out of form and when you’ve got a slender lead and have your backs against the wall, he’s not a player you can count on.

And before you get defensive and think I’m wrong, think about Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Love him or hate him, he is a top class manager who wins trophies and even he, a manager who used to sing Özil’s praises time and time again, would substitute Özil towards the end of games, usually with 15 minutes to go. If you’ve got yourself into a winning position then you need to see it out.

There is no doubt that when he is on song, Özil is a good player but to leave him on when he is obviously struggling for form and we’ve got a lead to defend, it really beggars belief.

Arsene needs to have a major rethink and not feel obliged to leave on his record signing just because he arrived with a massive price tag.

It got so bad and depressing that I tried to cancel BT Sport.

Last summer, with BT Sport sharing the Premier League rights with Sky Sports, I took the plunge and subscribed to the channel that had Michael Owen in their ranks. Despite his deadpan demeanour, I felt good about subscribing to BT Sport. Arsenal were to be shown on there quite a lot and obviously I make sure I watch every possible Arsenal match, so happy days. And obviously I paid extra to have it in HD, you just have to don’t you?

Unfortunately, the happy feeling wouldn’t last long at all as time after time, game after game, Arsenal got well and truly f*cked in the arse. If you’re going to go with the pornography analogy, it was like being sodomised by several well endowed blokes repeatedly – it was not nice at all, was completely embarassing and made me feel sick afterwards.

Lunchtime kick offs and BT Sport are not a good combination. At Manchester City we lost 6-3, at Chelsea we lost 6-0 and against Liverpool we lost 5-1. Capitulations of the highest order and after that, I tried to cancel BT Sport.

To be fair to them, when I tried to cancel they wouldn’t have it, and they even joked with me when I told them why I was cancelling. I told them that I wasn’t paying extra money for a cursed channel where my beloved Arsenal were getting absolutely slaughtered time and time again. My reasoning for cancelling was why the hell would I pay to watch this?

The guy I was speaking to gave an sympathetic ear and ended up giving me BT Sport free for 6 months and then half price for another 6 months. So obviously I ended up staying with them.

The big question though is can Arsenal break the lunchtime / BT Sport hoodoo?

Do Arsenal struggle with early games? Do the players have late night FIFA tournaments which mean they’re still half asleep at midday? Does the position of the sun and the moon at that particular time bring bad luck to Arsenal? Who knows.

But tomorrow they have a chance to make things right. An advantage is that we’re playing at home, and even with Arsenal’s ability to surprise us, we shouldn’t get battered. But it wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibility – crazier things have happened like the 6-3-, 6-0 and 5-1 score lines like last season, I don’t think any Arsenal fan would have predicted  that!

So what do you think? Can Arsenal stay unbeaten and get a good result against Manchester City? Can we break the hoodoo?

Leave your thoughts on tomorrow’s game in the comments section below, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

Well I have been well and truly made to look like a plunker (and it’s not that hard to be fair).

Going off a quote from BBC Football, I incorrectly took it out of context and came to the wrong assumption about Arsene Wenger and his comments on Danny Welbeck.

Like most of you, I’m busy at work today and try to get snippets of Arsenal news whenever I can, and the article I quickly read only had the quote which could be construed in different ways.

I’ve managed to catch bits of the actual press conference now and get the comment in contents – and admit I was completely wrong.

Apologies for Arsene Wenger and any fans I’ve offended.

Not for the first time, I’ve been made to look like a right muppet.

If everyone was fit and healthy (yes, I know, don’t laugh) and we had a full squad to pick from, who would be your choice as Arsenal’s main striker?

The days of 4-4-2 have long gone now and with our fluid 4-3-3 system, there’s only space for one central striker. So who would you choose?

Would you go with Olivier Giroud, a player who is improving all the time and brings others into play? Or Danny Welbeck, a warrior who can run in behind and has pace to burn?

Or alternatively, you could call upon the other players who Arsene Wenger has identified as possibilities as Arsenal’s main man – Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell can all apparently play that role.

And then we have Yaya Sanogo, a player who is raw and divides opinion like no other.

So who would you play in the central striking position?

Vote below and leave your comments in the section below!