Unai Emery has said the decision to omit Mesut Ozil from the Arsenal team is part of an agreed strategy which has been discussed with the club’s executives.

Ozil’s lack of game time has been a recurring theme during Arsenal’s season, with the German playmaker featuring in only one Premier League match this campaign.

There were chants in support of Ozil during Thursday’s Europa League victory over Vitoria SC, with some Arsenal fans vocalising their criticism of Emery for not selecting the German in a team who struggled for large spells of the match.

Emery has been increasingly reluctant to discuss the Ozil situation, telling reporters on Thursday night that it was “not the day to speak about that”.

He has now revealed, though, that he has the support of the Arsenal hierarchy in his approach to the German, whose £350,000-a-week contract makes him Arsenal’s highest earner.