Has Oxlade-Chamberlain blown his big chance to be an Arsenal starter?

Arsenal encountered AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates today, in this weekend’s set of Premier League fixtures. The Gunners won the game 3-1, but it was far from as convincing as the score line may suggest.

It was not a comfortable 90 minutes for the Gunners and at several times it looked as if Bournemouth were in control of the match. One of the biggest reasons behind Arsenal’s lacklustre performance was that fact that many players in the side underperformed today. Without going through the whole team, one standout name who failed to impress today was Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.

Chamberlain was given a chance today by Arsene Wenger and many had hoped the Englishman would take this opportunity today to make strides towards becoming an Arsenal regular. However as many previous occasions before have shown, Chamberlain just doesn’t seem up for the task and he had another less than convincing performance. Chamberlain had several opportunities to create a goalscoring chance for the team, or to take the team forward up the pitch; however he was unable to provide anything for his teammates and was wasteful in front of goal. The Ox got into some great positions in attack, but the other disappointment from his game today was his positioning when off the ball.
The Ox and Monreal were seen to be arguing down that left hand side of the pitch, with Monreal showing concerns about Chambo’s lack of tracking back. He left the Spaniard alone to deal with many Bournemouth breaks, leaving the defence vulnerable and unsupported on more than one occasion.

Chamberlain has said in the past that he wants to succeed at Arsenal and become a regular at the club. However if he fails to make an impression with the side to Arsene Wenger, then I feel it’s unlikely he’ll be an Arsenal regular anytime soon.

This isn’t about showing dissatisfaction at Chamberlain’s performance today, it’s about showing disappointment at the fact he cannot take the opportunities given to him by Arsene Wenger, when Chamberlain himself is crying out to get more time on the pitch. Chamberlain could get another chance on Wednesday night against his old club Southampton in the EFL Cup. It’s important he makes more of an impression in that match because with Walcott and Alexis showing they have their shooting boots on and the presence of Alex Iwobi, Chamberlain could soon find himself out of the starting eleven again.

By AH

4 Comments

  1. To be fair to the Ox, he was played out of position, but I didn’t think he was that bad. Overall though, he shouldn’t be playing at this level, and I really cannot believe he’s been given six seasons to impress. It’s giving a new meaning to the word “patience”.

  2. 3 points, 90 minutes played, I think he and the manager should be pretty happy. I keep repeating this, team have maybe 5 starters, rest are added as needed, rotated etc.

  3. For now, he is a good sub not a starter. We have seen him performing good when he play off the bench. Overall, he has to improve his performance including the tracing back status to be an Arsenal player. Otherwise…

  4. Oxlade contributed more to the game yesterday than Walcott, his only lapses was not tracking back to assist Monreal and occationally loose the ball. But he added more attacking spirit to the game than some of the players in the pitch. His effort yesterday was not bad but there is room for improvement

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