Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has claimed that Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan do not fit into Unai Emery's desired system at the club.
The Gunners have lost their opening two matches of the new Premier League season, against Manchester City and Chelsea, as Emery seeks to install a new high-pressing style.
However, Merson fears that Ozil and Mkhitaryan lack the work rate and aggression to press in the manner desired by the former Paris Saint-Germain coach.
"He hasn't got the players to have a 20-yard gap between defence and attack, working hard. Ozil and Mkhitaryan are not those type of players," Merson told Sky Sports News.
"If you were building a team tomorrow, you'd want to play a high pressing game, work as a team, not to have gaps between the lines, and you're not buying Ozil and Mkhitaryan.
"If you go the Arsene Wenger way, wanting to play entertaining, free-flowing, great football, then Ozil and Mkhitaryan will walk in any team in the world. But they will not get in teams that want to press.
"I don't know if the current crop have gone past being able to learn that way of playing. That's my concern. I don't mean regarding their age, but in the way they play the game. Ozil's future? I don't know. I'm a big fan of him, he's a quality player, but sometimes you watch him and the game passes him by."
Arsenal will renew their search for a first point of the season when they host West Ham United on Saturday.
Giuseppe Labellarte
