Mesut Özil left the field through injury late in last night’s Germany v Sweden game, raising fears he may be forced to sit out Arsenal’s Premier League tie with Norwich on Saturday.

Özil had a decidedly mixed 25th birthday. Sweden went into a 2-0 lead before Arsenal’s record signing scored Germany’s first goal and set up Mario Götze for their second to begin a comeback that eventually brought a 5-3 victory. Then, with less than 10 minutes remaining, Özil limped off the field and straight down the tunnel with a knee injury.

Reports in Germany suggest the playmaker has suffered only bruising to his right knee but this may be enough for Arsène Wenger to play it safe at the weekend.

Arsenal have a tough series of fixtures of the next few weeks, including home and away ties against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Premier League fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester United, and a Capital One Cup tie against Chelsea.

With Özil playing such an important role in Arsenal’s rise to the top of the Premier League table, Wenger and all Arsenal fans will be hoping that the German ace recovers from this knock quickly.

Koscielny and Cazorla expected to return

France, meanwhile, beat Finland 3-0 last night and the Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny played the full 90 minutes – and emerged unscathed – on his return from a calf injury.

He can be expected to feature against Norwich at the weekend, in a game that may also bring the return of midfielder Santi Cazorla.

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