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Ozil given time off to recover from knee injury
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil is a doubt for Sunday's Premier League game against Brighton after Germany coach Joachim Low confirmed the 28-year-old will be rested for next week's World Cup qualifiers.
Ozil played the final seven minutes of Arsenal's 2-0 Premier League win over West Brom on Monday, after missing the matches against Cologne, Chelsea and Doncaster with a knee injury.
But Low says the former Real Madrid midfielder, and his international team-mate Sami Khedira, will be rested for Die Mannschaft's World Cup quailfiers against Northern Ireland in Belfast on 5 October and Azerbaijan in Kaiserslautern three days later.
Germany lead Northern Ireland by five points in Group C with two games to go, and, with a goal difference of +33 to Northern Ireland's +14, only need to draw one of their final two matches to secure automatic qualification for Russia 2018.
"I expect Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira to recover during this break for international matches," Low said.
"That is more important for them now.
"What will be decisive for us is that the players are fully fit next year [at the World Cup]."
Low's decision to rest Ozil is likely to have been made following discussions with the Gunners' medical staff, which suggests the World Cup winner is unlikely to be risked for Sunday's game against Chris Hughton's Brighton at the Emirates Stadium, a match which will be shown live on BT Sport 1 [kick off 12 noon].
When asked why Ozil didn't start against West Brom on Monday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: "He just came back from a knee problem.
"He hasn’t practiced a lot in the last two weeks.
"I didn’t know really how much he has lost on the fitness front."
There's no Champions League for Arsenal for the first time in 21 years, but you can watch the Gunners in Europa League action on the eir Sport package. The Gunners face Bundesliga side FC Koln, BATE Borisov and Red Star Belgrade in Group H. Arsenal's Premier League game against Brighton at the Emirates on Sunday, 1 October will be shown live on BT Sport 1 [kick off 12 noon].
Image: Getty Images/ Clive Rose
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