Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be hoping to score his second club goal of the season tomorrow.
Several niggling injuries have meant Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s season so far has not really hit it’s stride yet, it hasn’t had the chance to.
With Theo Walcott often left out of the starting line-up, and suffering with his own injuries, Arsenal have had to or decided to use Aaron Ramsey on the right wing on a number of occasions.
It isn’t an option fans will be keen to see again, and with Walcott ruled out, there is a place on the right wing up for grabs.
It will be interesting to see whether Wenger goes for the youngster, or picks Ramsey, who is really a central midfielder and not a wide man.
Oxlade-Chamberlain can play on the left too of course, but with Wenger picking Lukas Podolski there, from which he can cut inside, the right remains a more likely option for the young England international.
Since the 2-1 defeat for Chelsea, when he came on as an early substitute for the injured Abou Diaby on September 29; he has played just 30 minutes of Premier League football, stretched as substitute appearances over three games.
He came on for the final five minutes against Spurs last weekend but looked in dangerous form, setting up Theo Walcott’s goal, and looked keen to grab one himself.
He has just one goal for Arsenal this season, in the 6-1 Capital One Cup against Coventry, to go with the effort he scored for England against San Marino in the 5-0 win; neither particularly taxing affairs by any stretch of the imagination.
Against Montpellier in the Champions League in midweek the 19-year-old missed the match with a slight injury, but Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the player is fit again and available for selection.
With Aston Villa’s young full-backs the opposition tomorrow, it will be an interesting test for Chamberlain, and one he will relish.
He needs a breakthrough performance this season, to show he can be a major threat, and appears to be competing with Theo Walcott for a place on the right – where he has made all of his four league starts this campaign.
This is his chance to stake a claim for it, providing Wenger decides to pick him from the start. Should he? You tell us.
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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