I think it is safe to say that we have not really seen the best of the Arsenal and England star yet, at leasxt not on a consistent basis. But the flashes of brilliance that we have seen from young Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been enough to suggest that he has a brilliant career ahead of him.
Once again yesterday the powerful and dynamic player stepped up for the Gunners and produced a moment of magic that was enough to secure a third pre-season trophy and, more importantly, remove whatever mental blockage their might be in the Arsenal squad about facing our Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The Ox and his vital goal were hailed by the Arsenal captain after the game, with Mikel Arteta going on to praise the 21-year old very highly and suggest that he has the potential to be one of the very best players to ever pull on an Arsenal shirt.
Arteta told Arsenal Player, “[The goal was] unbelievable, but Alex can do that every week if he wants to. He’s a terrific player, one of the best talents I’ve seen, and he’s got the world open for what he wants to do. It’s up to him.”
One of the reasons that we have not seen more of Chamberlain and his talent so far is that he has not always been a regular starter under Arsene Wenger, with injury problems and the need to improve his all round game the main reasons.
In fact he might well not have started at Wembley if Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck or Alexis Sanchez were available. But they are not and so surely the Ox will be in the XI that takes on West Ham in our first Premier League game against West Ham on Sunday. So will this be the season when he starts to prove what Arteta says and makes the football world his oyster?