Arsenal’s blistering early season form has meant that several players are unable to force their way past their performing colleagues in the starting lineup.
Among those are £30m summer signing Granit Xhaka, while winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has hinted that he may look to leave the club at the end of the season if he cannot nail down a first team slot.
The 23-year-old has featured sporadically for Arsenal this season and overall has started just over 50 Premier League games since joining from Southampton in a £12m deal as a teenager in 2011.
Manager Arsène Wenger has been discussing Oxlade-Chamberlain’s comments and has said that while there is definitely a place for the young England international in the side, he’ll have to earn it just like teammate Theo Walcott has done.
Both were linked with summer moves away from the Emirates but both chose to stay at the club, and while Walcott has catapulted himself right back into the starting lineup, Oxlade-Chamberlain hasn’t quite had the same impact.
Wenger said:
“I can understand, but you buy a player at 17, you spend a lot of money, then you would like him to stay at the club.
“I think his place is here. We like him. I rate him as a player and hope he will show that he can have a stable position in the team until the end of the season.
“This season he has been similar to Walcott. He has not got rewarded yet, but he is in a similar position because he’s worked really hard.
“What I’ve seen in Theo is he lets the passion for the game come out of his body.
“He’s played with more freedom, maybe a bit more lets his feelings come out of his heart and is less calculating. A less restricted attitude. He is a completely different player.”
The good news for Oxlade-Chamberlain is he is likely to start Wednesday night’s Champions League fixture against Ludogorets. However, he faces an uphill struggle to dislodge wither of Walcott or Alex Iwobi in the wing positions going forward.
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