Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain thinks he faces a stiff test forcing his way back into Arsenal’s starting line-up after a lengthy spell on the sidelines but believes competition for places will bring the best out of him.
Aware that regular starts at the Emirates are on the line given the form of his teammates, the 20-year-old – who hasn’t played any football since sustaining a knee injury against Aston Villa on the first day of the Premier League season – admitted that he has his work cut out.
“Things can change quickly in football,” he told The Sun. “When you’re at a great club like Arsenal, which has the strength in depth it has, you know you’ve got to raise your levels to stand a chance of playing.
“If you look at us now, if everyone was fit we’d have an unbelievably strong squad and it will be a huge challenge to get back in the team.
“But I’m confident in my ability so, when I get the chance, I will have to take it.”
With a World Cup on the horizon and flavour-of-the-month Andros Townsend already tipped to single-handedly end England’s 48-year trophy drought, Chamberlain also recognised that he’s not a certainty to travel to Brazil despite his excellent strike in the Maracana last summer.
“Townsend has made it hard for every other attacking player in that position to get in, not just me,” he continued.
“Competition has gone up again but you can’t feel frustrated. If you think like that, you start losing focus.
“I know what I need to be doing to be in the squad and it’s the same at Arsenal.”
Chamberlain took to Twitter this morning to confirm he’s working hard in rehab but as Arsene Wenger revealed ahead of the Norwich game he’s still not expected to be back until mid-December.
After a difficult season last time around he’s certainly got much to prove. Fingers crossed he plays a big role helping the side in the New Year, a time when traditionally our players start dropping like flies.
Podolski? Walcott? Any widemen want to come back any time soon? Mr chips? He’s on the right now and doing well.
Neither for at least a month, sadly.
It could be a blessing in disguise for Arsenal and England. We will invariably have injuries around that time and England will need fresher players to deal with the climate in Brazil. The likes of Gerrard, Carrick, and Lampard will be struggling by then.
Cant wait to have everyone back fit and fighting for first team spot.
His return will be an early xmas present… and in time for the hectic schedule then..
so good to see so much maturity in such a young person:
“Competition has gone up again but you can’t feel frustrated. If you think like that, you start losing focus.
Spot on.
come back soon chambo. after the defeat to BVB it’s back to reality as the honeymoon is over.ALL HANDS ON DECK!!
Teams won’t know what’s hit them when we get our wide men back. They’ll be so used to our narrow play that they’ll try to stifle us there and suddenly BOOM! Out to a winger and it’s all over, good night.
How would you compare the Ox at 18 and gnabry at the same age?
They are like twin brothers
Hey blogs, do you want us to point out little grammatical or spelling errors in the articles, or is that just as annoying as Adam Sandler doing a duet with Phil Collins?
The above comment was my first one that needed to be sent to the moderators for verification, I think it was due to the aforementioned *ahem* artists.
with the ox and podolski and theo getting ready to play with our creative midfielders, it’s going to get pretty hideous for defences coming up against the arsenal. which is how it should be.
more to the point, what’s happened to the arsenal gent? he’s fucking excellent, to coin a phrase
Just realised that the scrolling bar next to the LATEST at the top of the page is actually rolling comedy!!! Who knew … Good Friday treat
I had never seen that before. it’s hilarious.
Arseblog FTMFW
Mid-December?! Too early, he should come back in January… we need a LANS