Mesut Ozil under fire from all quarters ahead of Bayern Munich clash — from his Arsenal team-mates to ex-professionals

Ozil has reportedly been accused of receiving preferential treatment from Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger has so far refused to drop Ozil despite his poor form (Getty Images)

Mesut Ozil finds himself under increasing pressure at Arsenal ahead of their Champions League Round of 16 match against Bayern Munich, with reports circulating that some his team-mates have accused the player of receiving preferential treatment from Arsene Wenger.

The German playmaker has struggled for form in recent weeks, with Wenger admitting for the first time that “technically he did things that he is not used to doing” in the wake of another underwhelming performance in the 2-0 victory over Hull.

Ozil has now gone eight matches without scoring, and his combined goal and assist rate has dropped dramatically in 2017. From August to December he scored nine times and registered six assists at a combined average rate of 0.69, but that figure has dropped to just 0.21 in games this calendar year.

To make matters worse for Ozil, The Daily Mail have reported that some of his Arsenal team-mates have started to turn on him, frustrated by his ineffectual recent performances as well as his limited interaction with the rest of the first-team squad.

Team spirit at the club has continually suffered since the 2012 exit of former first-team captain Robin van Persie, with Ozil now supposedly reluctant to spend any time socialising with his team-mates.

Ozil has made little effort to integrate with his Arsenal team-mates (Getty Images)

It has also been claimed that certain Arsenal players have grown frustrated with Wenger’s apparent refusal to either drop or substitute Ozil, despite his poor performances in recent matches.

Ozil has not been substituted by Wenger when Arsenal have been chasing a goal all season and only two players (Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez) have appeared in more games than he has.

Wenger has come under growing pressure to finally drop the 28-year-old from his starting line-up, with former West Ham striker Dean Ashton the latest pundit to call on Wenger to leave Ozil out of his starting XI for the trip to Bayern Munich.

Speaking as a guest on talkSPORT, Ashton described Ozil as “moody”, and questioned his attitude when things aren’t going his way.

“He can be absolutely unbelievable, and as ex-players we all look at Mesut Ozil and just think – wow,” the one-time England international said. “Some days you can just see that he is not that interested.

“I think he’s probably one of those players who is a bit moody and you don’t really know what he’s thinking. Wenger probably looks at him and tries to get the best out of him, but he doesn’t give a lot away.

“He can get himself into one of those little moods if it’s not going his way. He makes it all about him, and therefore he’s forgetting what he needs to be doing for the team.”