Unai Emery: No Regrets in Taking Off Mesut Ozil for Arsenal in Brighton Draw

Arsenal boss Unai Emery does not regret substituting Mesut Ozil in the Gunners' 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.

The Spaniard took the German off at half-time for Alex Iwobi at the Amex Stadium despite Jurgen Locadia cancelling out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's opener before the break.

Per Football.London's Charles Watts, when asked whether he regretted taking off the playmaker, Emery said: "No. It was only tactically. We did before, in other matches also change the idea from the first half with other players. And today I did it with Mesut, that is only tactically, not another problem."

Ozil has been in and out of the team recently. After being left out of Arsenal's 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on December 19, he was given the captain's armband at home to Burnley on Saturday and played a starring role in a 3-1 win.

Although the 30-year-old was guilty of not tracking back in the buildup to Locadia's goal, it seemed a puzzling decision to take him off with the match still in the balance at half-time.

Sports journalist Jonny Singer felt Arsenal were poorer without him in the side in the second half:

Emery also withdrew Alexandre Lacazette, who assisted Aubameyang's opener, to bring on Aaron Ramsey in the 62nd minute.

"I think Aaron Ramsey deserved to play," Emery said. "He deserved to take the responsibility because he wants to help us. I think Aaron played a good match today in this moment."

Emery's substitutions have often yielded impressive results this season, with players coming off the bench to change games in Arsenal's favour.

Asked why that did not happen this time, he said: "Tactically, some matches I did that. I wanted to control better the positioning on the pitch. But in the second half, we couldn't do our ideas on the pitch to impose."

Watts was baffled by the decisions to withdraw Ozil and Lacazette:

Ramsey has contributed six assists this season, four of which came as a substitute, so Emery's desire to get him on the pitch is understandable.

However, to take off Lacazette, who set up Aubameyang with his seventh assist of the season and also has eight goals to his name, was inexplicable.

Emery's substitutions made Arsenal less capable of grabbing a decisive winner, and the Gunners have not recorded back-to-back Premier League wins in five matches.

Arsenal face a trip to Anfield on Saturday to take on league leaders Liverpool, who are 13 points in front of the fifth-place Gunners.

If the Spaniard's decision-making isn't up to scratch, getting a result there will be even more difficult.