Carl Jenkinson looks back at West Ham loan spell, credits ex-boss for this improvement

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The right-back could be in line to start against his former club this weekend.

Arsenal right-back Carl Jenkinson has admitted to the club’s official website that he loved his time on loan at West Ham United, and insisted that he owes a lot to the club and their former manager Sam Allardyce.

Jenkinson had already made 57 appearances for the Gunners as a young prospect before he was sent across London to join the Hammers on loan in the summer of 2014.

He would stay in East London for 18 months, only returning to the Emirates when his second season in claret-and-blue was cut short by a serious injury in January.

He made 59 appearances during his spell at Upton Park, and since returning to first-team action for Arsenal at the end of October he has been a regular in the absence of first-choice right-back Hector Bellerin.

Though Bellerin is seen by most as the Gunners’ long-term first-choice right-back, Jenkinson believes his time at West Ham has set him up perfectly to fight for the role.

The 24-year-old told the Arsenal website: “I enjoyed my time at West Ham, made some good friends but most importantly I played a lot of football.

“West Ham is a great club and it gave me a platform to go and play every week in the Premier League, which was superb for me and I think it’s brought me on a lot as a player. I’ve learnt a lot so, all in all, I look back on it very fondly. Generally, I feel like I’ve improved in a lot of areas.”

Jenkinson admitted that he credits former West Ham and England manager Sam Allardyce with developing the attacking side of his game down the right flank.

He continued: “In my first season under Sam Allardyce, he encouraged me to get forward and get crosses in, which is something I love to do so I feel like I improved that a lot, certainly in my first year.

“In general, it’s improved me in a lot of ways on and off the pitch. It was an invaluable experience for me and I’m very happy with how it went.

“As a loan experience it couldn’t have gone too much better because I played a lot of football, which was the main aim. Hopefully people will see how much I’ve come on and developed as a player.”

Jenkinson will come up against many of his old West Ham teammates – and play at the club’s new London Stadium home for the first time – when Arsenal face the Hammers on Saturday evening.