Mesut Özil has been given a week off by Arsenal in an attempt to allow the midfielder to recover from back spasms, which could be the root cause of the World Cup winner’s run of poor form this year.

The 28-year-old Özil has not scored in 2017 and his drop-off in performance has coincided with Arsenal falling even further away from Premier League leaders Chelsea, along with suffering the 5-1 humbling at Bayern Munich that leaves them on the brink of a seventh consecutive Champions League last-16 exit.

After receiving plenty of criticism for his lacklustre display at the Allianz Arena last week, Özil was given time off by manager Arsene Wenger, with the Germany international taking to his Instagram page to reveal a picture of himself way from the rest of the squad as they faced Sutton United on Monday night in a 2-0 FA Cup fifth round victory.

Özil has travelled abroad to fly back home to Germany and spend some time with his family this week, with Arsenal not having a fixture at the weekend as they were due to face EFL Cup finalists Southampton, with the fixture being postponed so that Saints can take on Manchester United in Sunday’s final at Wembley.

He still retains the faith of Wenger though, with the Arsenal manager not ready to drop him from the first-team, and will be brought back into the first-team squad in time for the Premier League trip to Anfield a week on Saturday.

As part of his time off, Özil will also travel to Turkey, before arriving back in north London before the end of the week to resume training with the rest of the squad – who have not been given any additional time off after Monday’s victory at Gander Green Lane.

The former Real Madrid midfielder has scored eight goals this season, five of which have come in the Premier League, but has seen his number of assists drop dramatically from last season to just four so far in the top flight, compared to his total number of 19 last term.

Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Show all 11 1 /11 Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Joachim Löw Age: 58

Current club: German national team

Honours: Austrian Bundesliga, 2001/02

Fifa World Cup, 2014

Fifa Confederations Cup, 2017 Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Mikel Arteta Age: 35

Current club: Manchester City Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Brendan Rodgers Age: 44

Current club: Celtic

Honours: Championship playoffs

Scottish League Cup

Scottish Premiership Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Leonardo Jardim Age: 42

Current club: Monaco

Honours: Segunda Liga

Superleague Greece

Greek Cup

Ligue 1 Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Patrick Vieira Age: 40

Current club: New York City FC

Honours: None Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Diego Simeone Age: 47

Current club: Atletico Madrid

Honours: Argentine Primera Division x2 (Estudiantes de La Plata and River Plate)

La Liga

Copa del Rey

Spanish Supercup

Europa League

Uefa Super Cup Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Domenico Tedesco Age: 32

Current club: Schalke Bongarts/Getty Images Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Massimiliano Allegri Age: 49

Current club: Juventus

Honours: Serie C1 (Sassuolo)

Serie A x3 (AC Milan, 2x Juventus)

Italian Super Cup x 2 (AC Milan, Juventus)

Coppa Italia x 2 (Juventus) Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Thomas Tuchel Age: 44

Current club: Free agent

Honours: DFB-Pokal Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Luis Enrique Age: 47

Current club: Free agent

Honours: La Liga x2 Copa del Rey x3 Supercopa de Espana Champions League Super Cup Club World Cup Getty Arsenal candidates to replace Arsene Wenger Carlo Ancelotti Age: 58

Current club: Free agent Intertoto Cup (Juventus) Serie A (AC Milan) Coppa Italia (Ac Milan) Supercoppa Italiana (AC Milan) Champions League x3 (AC Milan x2, Real Madrid) Super Cup x2 (AC Milan) Club World Cup (AC Milan) Premier League (Chelsea) FA Cup (Chelsea) Ligue 1 (Paris Saint-Germain) Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) Bundesliga (Bayern Munich) DFL Supercup x2 (Bayern Munich) Bongarts/Getty Images