Unai Emery is keen not to let the situation with Mesut Özil reach the same level as his power struggle with Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain, according to reports.

The media are set on making Özil’s absence against West Ham United into a massive drama, with tonnes of articles written based on their theories and opinions on the situation.

Some say Özil really was dropped, others that he was ill and shouldn’t have been in contact with the team on matchday. Then there are those arguing he wasn’t dropped or ill, but just didn’t want to play the position Emery was asking him to play.

Now the Telegraph write that Emery is already concerned about it all spiralling out of control in the same way the Neymar situation did last season. The Brazilian seems to think of himself as a leader of the team within the team, and didn’t take kindly to the manager stepping on his toes.

Hopefully Özil wouldn’t create the same sort of dressing room problems, but the good news is that the Arsenal board are reportedly prepared to let Emery deal with any issues however he chooses. The new head coach has their full backing either way, which is how it should be.

It would certainly be nice for Özil to start and play a blinder against Cardiff this weekend though.