Arsenal pair Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac out indefinitely reveals boss Unai Emery after carjacking and gang threat hell – The Sun
MESUT OZIL and Sead Kolasinac are out of action indefinitely after the pair were caught in the middle of a North London gang battle.
Unai Emery, 47, has had to do without the pair for the start of the season, leaving the Gunners with an experimental line-up for the trip to St James' Park.
Arsenal still beat Newcastle 1-0, thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goal, but there are question marks over the important pair.
The North London chief said he is in the dark over their return following their carjacking ordeal two weeks ago.
Ozil parked guard dogs outside his house, going into hiding following the attack by yobs on mopeds last month.
The London mob who attempted to steal their expensive watches in North London are at odds with a rival Eastern European gang, unknown to the footballers, who have vowed to ward off further attacks.
But the moped attackers are refusing to be intimidated and two men were arrested outside Ozil's £9million Camden home on Thursday under the Public Order Act.
The incident is threatening to wobble Emery's ship as they welcome Burnley to the Emirates on Saturday before heading to Anfield a week later.
Emery said: "The club is managing that circumstance.
"We want to be with them as soon as possible and with normality in training and normality to be ready to play.
"But I don't know now when they will be available."
Emery was able to call on youngsters Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock for the clash.
And new signings Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe and loan man Dani Ceballos came off the bench to make their Premier League debuts.
But he opted for a centre-back pairing of Calum Chambers and Sokratis instead of using new boy David Luiz.
Emery added: "Last year for Calum Chambers was a very good year.
"He played all the matches with Fulham, he played centre-back in a three and two, as a defensive midfielder.
"In the pre-season he deserved to play today. He was very focused and with Sokratis as well very seriously.
"I want to have very competitive players in each position, with David Luiz, with [Rob] Holding when he is coming to help us, training regularly and playing minutes.
"He is going to play tomorrow for the Under-23s.
"Also Hector Bellerin is coming back, I think one month more.
"Today we had Sead [Kolasinac] out and Kieran Tierney injured. We want to be strong defensively but above all being an offensive team.
"The circumstances are different. First David Luiz had a pre-season with another team and is OK to play physically, but only trained with us completely [on Saturday].
"On Friday he only trained for 30 minutes.
"I was thinking of giving Sokratis and Chambers confidence because they were working well."
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