Paul Merson says he wouldn’t put Mesut Özil back into the team against Watford, as the German doesn’t work hard enough.

Merson was talking to Sky Sports, giving his predictions for the weekend’s matches. The former Gunner says he expects Arsenal to get the win, but thinks they should do it without Mesut, explaining: “I wouldn’t put Mesut Ozil back into the side. He doesn’t work hard enough for the team.

“He is a top player but the least you can do is work hard. If you have got talent you have had a result – and he has talent – but I have seen players with much less talent than him have a bigger impact on games, which can’t be right.”

The myth about Özil’s work-rate is as lazy as those perpetuating it claim Mesut to be. The statistics don’t support the opinion, but those who don’t focus on the playmaker might miss all the work he is doing.

The fallacy is evident when you compare the German to the players who are considered hard-workers. For example, whatever you think about his recent transfer saga, most people agree that Alexis Sanchez gives his all for the team.

But when you look at the statistics, Alexis spends more time walking than Mesut, more time jogging, less time running and less time sprinting.

To those that would point out the small sample size for the statistics, exactly the same was the case across the entirety of last season, as you can see by comparing the following two tweets:

I assume Paul Merson isn’t also going to ask for Alexis to be dropped for not working hard enough, even though he clearly spends more of his time walking about.

But let me know if he does, and I’ll take it all back…