Arsenal would have beaten BATE if Ozil had played - Emery

ARSENAL boss Unai Emery insists his side would not have beaten BATE Borisov tonight had Mesut Ozil been playing.

The Gunners suffered a shock result in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie.

Emery fielded a strong side but his team were beaten 1-0 thanks to a first-half header from Stanislav Dragun.

Things went from bad to worse as Alexandre Lacazette saw red for an elbow late on and he will now miss the second leg.

Despite declaring himself fit to play earlier this week, Ozil was not among the squad that travelled to Belarus.

“Today those that were here, we can win with them.”

Arsenal boss Unai Emery

And Emery is adamant his side can turn it around at the Emirates next week.

“Every player is okay to play,” he said when asked if his side missed Ozil’s creativity.

“Today those that were here, we can win with them and we deserved that.

“Last week we won and we played with the same players. No different performance.

“We deserved to win but didn’t get the result. They were very organised.

“Not for one player or another. We can win with every player and lose with the same players.

“It’s the first match. We play the next match in London and I think it can be different.

“I trust in our players and in our stadium with our supporters.

“I trust in our work and preparations to make a different result.”

The task will be much more difficult without Lacazette, who has scored 12 times this season.

But Emery admits he didn’t see the incident that resulted in the Frenchman being sent off.

“I didn’t see the action,” he added.

“We spoke and we need to control the frustration.

“It’s bad news the red card. We are not going to play with him next week.”